Jan 30 (Reuters) - India's Shree Cement (SHCM.NS) , opens new tab reported a slump third-quarter profit on Thursday, hurt by weak prices and a slowdown in activity in a seasonally weak period.

The company's consolidated net profit plunged 72.5% to 1.93 billion rupees ($22.3 million) in the quarter ended Dec. 31.

Total revenue from operations dropped 12% to 45.73 billion rupees.

KEY CONTEXT

Cement prices have been falling for most of last year, including a 11% on-year drop in the December quarter, which is also a seasonally weak one as the pace of construction activity slows.

However, market leader UltraTech (ULTC.NS) , opens new tab and its closest rivals, Adani Group-owned Ambuja (ABUJ.NS) , opens new tab and ACC (ACC.NS) , opens new tab, benefitted as their acquisition spree helped bolster volumes.

However, while UltraTech and ACC reported upbeat results, smaller companies such as Dalmia Bharat (DALB.NS) , opens new tab and Orient Cement (ORCE.NS) , opens new tab succumbed to low prices.

PEER COMPARISON

* The mean of analysts' ratings standardised to a scale of Strong Buy, Buy, Hold, Sell, and Strong Sell

** The ratio of the stock's last close to analysts' mean price target; a ratio above 1 means the stock is trading above the PT

OCT-DEC STOCK PERFORMANCE

-- All data from LSEG

-- $1 = 86.6120 Indian rupees

Sign up here.

https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/indias-shree-cement-posts-725-plunge-q3-profit-weak-demand-prices-2025-01-30/