Cement shares in focus; JK, Dalmia, Shree Cement hit 52-wk high; here's why

Business Standard

15-05-2025

Cement shares price movement today: Shares of cement companies were in focus and they rallied by up to 4 per cent on the BSE in Thursday's intra-day trade in an otherwise weak market as the companies' leadership are optimistic about improving cement demand.
Shree Cement (up 4 per cent at ₹31,865.20), JK Cement (up 1.6 per cent at ₹5,389.40) and Dalmia Bharat (up 1 per cent at ₹2,079.90) have hit their respective 52-week highs on the BSE in intra-day trade today. In comparison, the BSE Sensex was down 0.55 per cent at 80,882 at 10:11 am.
Cement companies that have announced their March 2025 quarter (Q4FY25) earnings so far, have reported strong operational performance on a sequential basis.
Shree Cement's Q4 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) surged 46 per cent quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) led by a focus on pricing and operational efficiency. Q4 profit after tax rose 142 per cent to ₹556 crore QoQ. Total cement and clinker sale volume reached 9.84 million tonnes, which is the highest ever quarterly volume achieved by the company, Shree Cement said.
Birla Corporation last week reported a sharp 13 per cent YoY and 115 per cent QoQ increase in Ebitda to ₹540 crore, driven by better-than-expected volume, realisation and higher incentive income accrual. Ebitda/ tonne for Cement rose ₹445 QoQ.
An uptick in demand and prices during the quarter led to better realisation and a higher capacity utilisation of 105 per cent in the March quarter. Notwithstanding pressure on prices and demand, the cement industry benefited from benign power and fuel costs, the company said.
Cement market outlook
As per the Reserve Bank of India's recent estimate, India could still achieve its projected growth of 6.5 per cent for FY26. In this context, the cement demand is unlikely to be affected majorly by these global disruptions.
As for demand, UltraTech Cement, the sector giant, in Q4FY25 earnings call said that the company is seeing positive movement in government spending. Several new projects have been contemplated, which will assist in a steady cement consumption year-on-year. The beginning of the year is slightly weak because of very heavy heat or high heat that is prevailing, which slows down construction activity.
States like Andhra and Bihar, in particular, are seeing renewed focus in terms of spending on roads and other infrastructure growth. 'We believe once this heat subsides, in fact, Bihar, we understand rains have already come in and temperatures are coming down, we should start seeing improvement in sales performance or volume uptick in all the parts of the country,' Atul Daga, Chief Financial Officer of UltraTech Cement said.
Meanwhile, during FY26, the cement industry is expected to achieve 6.5-7.5 per cent demand growth fueled by infrastructure projects, rural recovery and real estate momentum. While there are external challenges in terms of geo-political conflicts and trade-barriers by key economies, ability of the Industry in general to balance growth with sustainability and cost efficiency will be critical to building a new India, Shree Cement said.
Motilal Oswal Financial Services view on Shree Cement
Shree Cement once again reported industry-leading profitability, led by strong growth in realisation and maintaining cost leadership. The company's sustained efforts in brand building and premiumisation over the past one year started to deliver reflected in above-industry realisation growth. However, its capacity utilisation continued to lag behind peers.
The brokerage firm in Q3FY25 result update said that they continue to believe low capacity utilisation, lack of geographical distribution, disproportionate mix of split grinding units and integrated cement plants, and rising industry supply (expect higher capacity additions in its core markets in the North and East) may constrain any capacity-led re-rating in the stock.