Ultratech Cement third-quarter profit falls 23% on raw material price rise

India`s UltraTech Cement Ltd, part of the Aditya Birla Group, on Thursday posted a 23 percent drop in third-quarter profit, hurt by rising pet coke and coal prices.

Profit fell to 4.56 billion rupees ($71.4 million) for the quarter ended Dec 31, from 5.95 billion rupees a year ago, the company said. http://bit.ly/2rhS3xf

Quarterly performance was also hurt by the ban of pet coke usage in some states, the company added.

However, net sales rose to 78.97 billion rupees from 59.27 billion rupees.

Analysts on average had expected a consolidated net profit of 4.49 billion rupees, according to Thomson Reuters data.