Cement maker Dalmia Bharat Ltd on Wednesday reported a 22 per cent rise in its consolidated net profit to Rs 266 crore for the December quarter, helped by volume sales growth and correction in commodity prices.

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The company had posted a net profit of Rs 218 crore in the October-December quarter a year ago, according to a regulatory filing. Its revenue from operations grew 7.3 per cent to Rs 3,600 crore during the quarter under review. It was at Rs 3,355 crore in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.

Dalmia Bharat's total expenses increased 6.37 per cent to Rs 3,303 crore during the quarter under review. Its sales volume climbed 8.1 per cent to 6.8 million tonnes in Q3 FY23.

During the quarter, it also "received final instalment of Rs 120 crore from Hippostores Technology, a promoter group company, on account of sale of Hippo Stores," the company said in a earnings statement.

Hippo Stores is a new business funded by the Dalmia Bharat group based on the Home Depot model but with a strong "home solutions" thrust based on a "Do it for you" proposition.

The total income of Dalmia Bharat in the December quarter rallied 8.05 per cent to Rs 3,664 crore. "Our sales volume improved 8.1 per cent YoY with EBITDA growing 20.3 per cent YoY to Rs 775 crore in Q3FY24," its Managing Director and CEO Puneet Dalmia said.

"With the cement price being largely stable, correction in commodity prices has led to margin recovery; from the lows of 12.8 per cent in Q2FY23 to 21.5 per cent during Q3FY24," he said. During the quarter, the Dalmia group firm increased its cement capacity to 44.6 MT.

On the outlook, Dalmia said: "While we believe that margins may improve further from here on, our focus for the next 12-15 months would remain on improving our capacity utilisation and delivering industry-leading volume growth." Shares of Dalmia Bharat Ltd settled 2.05 per cent higher at Rs 2,153.25 on the BSE.