Ambuja Cement drops 5% post weak q3 numbers; HPCL, GAIL, Confidence Petroleum gain after govt notifies Hydrogen Policy

Shares of Ambuja Cement dropped over 5 per cent in Friday's intraday trade after the cement company reported a 49.4% YoY decline in the standalone net profit at Rs 251.7 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2021, compared to Rs 497 crore posted in the year-ago quarter. 

Ambuja Cement stock touched day's low of Rs 339.7 in the early trade, and was trading with loss of Rs 17.40 (-4.84%) to 342.00 a share around 10.20 am on the BSE. Technical data shows that the cement stock has been on a downward slide for the past six months. As of February 18, shares of Ambuja Cement declined nearly 10% in one month, 14% in three months and over 16% in six months. In the last one year, shares have given over 20% return till February 18.  

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Shares have traded on 52-week high value of Rs 442.95 in September 2021, while traded on 52-week low of Rs 261.10 a share on the BSE in February last year. 

Earlier, the cement maker, which follows the January-December financial year, had reported a 6.3% YoY growth in its revenue from operations at Rs 3,735.1 crore compared to Rs 3,515 crore posted last year. EBITDA stood at Rs 568 crore in the reported quarter, down 26% YoY from Rs 768 crore posted last year. Margin contracted to 15.2% in Q3FY22 against 21.8% posted in Q3FY21. 

Dividend of Rs 6.30 per share

The Board of Directors of Ambuja Cement also approved a final dividend of Rs 6.30 per share, subject to the approval of the shareholders at the Annual General Meeting on Thursday. The dividend, if approved by the shareholders, shall be paid after 29th April 2022, it said.   

Besides, the Board also gave its in principle approval for an investment of~ 3,500 crores, for a cement grinding expansion plan of potential 7.0 million tons across its existing grinding units at. Sankrail and Farakka and at a greenfield location at Barh, in Bihar, supported by a 3.2 million tons brownfield clinker expansion at our existing integrated plant in Bhatapara, Chhattisgarh. 

Power and oil stocks gain

Meanwhile, power and oil & gas shares were trading with gains on Friday after Union Ministry of Power has notified Green Hydrogen/Green Ammonia Policy for production of Green Hydrogen or Green Ammonia using renewable sources of energy. 

At day's high, shares such as HPCL (Rs 305.80), Gail (Rs140.65), IOC (Rs122.30) and Confidential Petroleum (Rs75) gained up to 2 per cent in the early morning trade.