AMCD Acc Gds (Regs)

RNS Number:1531T
ACC Limited
25 April 2008


                            ACC MEDIA PRESS RELEASE


1)  1st Quarter (January-March 2008) Standalone Results

                                                                   Quarter              Quarter       Growth
                                                                   Jan-Mar        Jan-Mar  2007        ( % )
                                                                      2008

Sales Volume                          Million Tonnes                  5.40                 4.93          9.5

Sales Turnover                        Rs. Crore                    1795.75              1674.96          7.2

Profit Before Tax                     Rs. Crore                     495.82               477.11          3.9

Net Profit after Tax                  Rs. Crore                     357.54               355.65          0.5


The Company has transferred the Ready Mixed Concrete Business to its wholly
owned subsidiary ACC Concrete Limited with effect from January 1, 2008. As a
consequence, the results for the quarter ended March 31, 2008 are not comparable
with the corresponding period of the previous year. Sales turnover for the
current quarter works out to be 12.6% higher after adjusting RMX sales turnover
of previous quarter ended March 31, 2007 to make it comparable.


During the quarter January-March 2008 the Company sold 5.40 million tonnes of
cement compared to 4.93 million tonnes of cement- up by 9.5%. Despite
constraints in wagon availability and other bottlenecks the company sought to
maximize production to ensure wider availability of cement in all its important
markets.


During the quarter, costs went up by 12 % due to significant cost pressures in
respect of major inputs such as coal, gypsum, power, freight, etc. Coal price
increased by around 31% while raw materials and other inputs also increased
considerably. Excise duties on bulk cement and clinker were raised even though
cement is already a highly taxed commodity. Despite all these unprecedented cost
push factors, the company absorbed most of this escalation. Accordingly our
cement prices went up by only 3 per cent quarter on quarter basis. This is far
lower than the increase in the cost of most other building materials over the
same period.


                                      -2 -

As a result, our operating margins declined by 4.4% on quarter on quarter
basis.

Profit before Tax (including exceptional item of Rs.36.57 crore) for the quarter
increased to Rs.495.82 crore as compared to Rs.477.11 crore (including
exceptional item of Rs. 7.70 crore) for the corresponding period of the previous
year, up by 3.9%.


Profit after Tax for the quarter of Rs.357.54 crore is higher by 0.5% as
compared to Rs.355.65 crore for the corresponding period of the previous year.



2) New Projects/Modernisation


The implementation of Bargarh, New Wadi and Chanda expansion projects are
progressing, and these projects will add 7.2 MT of cement capacity by year 2010.


3) Outlook



The Economy is experiencing slightly lower growth than last year due to fluid
global economic conditions. The housing, construction and infrastructure sector
continue to record good growth which will help Cement Industry.



Overall, the cement industry recorded a growth rate of about 8.6% during the
current three months ended March-08 as compared to the corresponding previous
period.



While the outlook for demand and supply is positive, the industry faces
challenges of meeting steep cost escalations which exerts pressure on margins.



( Sumit Banerjee )

Managing Director

Mumbai - April 24, 2008

                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END

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