Holcim-controlled Ambuja Cements on Tuesday reported July-September, 2011 net profit rose 12.5 per cent from a year ago to Rs 171.48 crore on account of higher realisation and improved sales. Sales grew 15.4 per cent to Rs 1,805 crore backed by higher volumes and improved prices.

Rajesh Kumar Ravi, an analyst at Karvy Stock Broking, said: “The results were in line with expectations. Compared to last year, the company’s realisation has improved nine per cent to Rs 3,847 per tonne, which has led to better margins.”

However sequentially, the company’s realisation has declined seven per cent as sales and prices dropped due to lower demand during the monsoon.

Kamlesh Bagmar, an analyst with Prabhudas Lilladher, said the numbers were in line with expectations. “Going forward, input costs will remain a cause of concern,” said Bagmar.

However, Ambuja Cements managing director Onne Van Der Weijde sounded cautious. “Despite growing sales in both volume and value terms, the industry continues to face critical constraints such as rising cost of raw material, power and fuel, increasing cost of freight and forwarding. Despite these negative trends we are cautiously optimistic about the future. We continue to invest resources to improve productivity and operational efficiencies to increase both top line and margins,” he said.

The company commissioned one cement mill of 1.1 million tonnes capacity at its unit at Bhatapara during the quarter. Cement production increased 8.1 per cent while sales volume increased 7.6 per cent to Rs 4.69 million tonnes.