JK Lakshmi Q4 net up 10 per cent on improved income, efficiency

NEW DELHI: JK Lakshmi Cement today posted 10 per cent rise in standalone net profit for the fourth quarter at Rs 33.34 crore.

The company had reported Rs 30.30 crore net profit in the corresponding quarter a year ago, it said in a statement.

Attributing the rise in net profit to better efficiency and higher income, JK Lakshmi Cement's Whole-Time Director Shailendra Chouksey said net profit would have been higher had the company followed the earlier method of providing depreciation.

"During the current quarter, the company has changed with retrospective effect, the method of providing depreciation on split grinding units from "straight line" to "written down line..."

This change has resulted in additional depreciation charge of Rs 27.83 crore comprising Rs 11.50 crore for the current quarter/year and Rs 16.33 crore for the earlier year, which has been shown as an exceptional item," he said.

Sales, he said, however, were almost flat at 14.30 lakh tonnes in 2012-13 against 14.16 lakh tonnes a year ago as "the consumption of cement was coming down in the country."

JK Lakshmi Cement's net income during the January-March quarter also went up to Rs 535.77 crore from Rs 526.73 crore a year earlier. It sold 14.30 lakh tonnes of cement during the quarter.

For the full year 2012-13, net profit of the company rose to Rs 175.03 crore from Rs 108.79 crore in 2011-12.

"The profit after tax for the year would have been higher by Rs 18.80 crore had the company continued to follow the earlier method of depreciation," Chouksey said.

Net income also rose to Rs 2,054.95 crore as against Rs 1,718.10 crore a year earlier.