<p>UltraTech Cement, India's biggest cement maker by capacity, reported third-quarter earnings above estimates on Thursday on the back of strong volume growth, sending its shares soaring 7% in afternoon trade.</p><p>The company reported a smaller-than-expected 17% fall in consolidated net profit to 14.70 billion rupees ($170 million) for the October-December period. Analysts, on average, had expected profit to fall about 22%, as per data compiled by LSEG.</p><p>The sector leader's sales volumes grew 11% in the reported quarter, on the high side of the 8.4%-11% range estimated by four brokerages.</p><p>The sturdy volume growth helped UltraTech cushion the hit from low cement prices and helped revenue rise 2.7% to 171.93 billion rupees, above analyst estimates.</p>.<p>Cement prices in India, which have been falling for the most of last year, improved during the quarter, analysts at brokerage Centrum said. However, they were still about 11% lower on an on-year basis on average, data from brokerages Ambit and Nomura showed.</p><p>"UltraTech's good set of numbers are being seen as signs of improvement in the sector, and is assuaging investors that the worst, in terms of cement demand and prices, may be behind," said Ashutosh Murarka, a research analyst with Choice Broking.</p><p>Cement subsidiaries of UltraTech's nearest rival, the Adani Group - Ambuja and ACC - rose more than 2% each.</p><p>Earlier this week, UltraTech's unit India Cements reported a wider loss and smaller peer Dalmia Bharat posted a profit slump but signalled improvement ahead.</p>
<p>UltraTech Cement, India's biggest cement maker by capacity, reported third-quarter earnings above estimates on Thursday on the back of strong volume growth, sending its shares soaring 7% in afternoon trade.</p><p>The company reported a smaller-than-expected 17% fall in consolidated net profit to 14.70 billion rupees ($170 million) for the October-December period. Analysts, on average, had expected profit to fall about 22%, as per data compiled by LSEG.</p><p>The sector leader's sales volumes grew 11% in the reported quarter, on the high side of the 8.4%-11% range estimated by four brokerages.</p><p>The sturdy volume growth helped UltraTech cushion the hit from low cement prices and helped revenue rise 2.7% to 171.93 billion rupees, above analyst estimates.</p>.<p>Cement prices in India, which have been falling for the most of last year, improved during the quarter, analysts at brokerage Centrum said. However, they were still about 11% lower on an on-year basis on average, data from brokerages Ambit and Nomura showed.</p><p>"UltraTech's good set of numbers are being seen as signs of improvement in the sector, and is assuaging investors that the worst, in terms of cement demand and prices, may be behind," said Ashutosh Murarka, a research analyst with Choice Broking.</p><p>Cement subsidiaries of UltraTech's nearest rival, the Adani Group - Ambuja and ACC - rose more than 2% each.</p><p>Earlier this week, UltraTech's unit India Cements reported a wider loss and smaller peer Dalmia Bharat posted a profit slump but signalled improvement ahead.</p>