ACC, one of the leading cement makers, today announced a growth of 62.18% in consolidated in third quarter earnings. It earned consolidated net profit to Rs 1.93 billion for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2014 as compared to Rs 1.19 billion in the same period last year. Analysts on average had predicted net profit of Rs 1.98 billion.

Total consolidated income of the company increased 9.25% to Rs 28.47 billion for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2014 from Rs 26.06 billion in the year ago period.
 
Operating EBITDA rose to Rs 3.79 billion against Rs 2.86 billion in same period of the previous year.

''Profitability during the quarter showed an improvement as a result of our customer excellence programme and better cost management, particularly with regard to distribution costs & optimized sourcing of inputs and improved realizations," the company said.

Shares of the company gained Rs 12.4, or 0.84%, to trade at Rs 1,496.65. The total volume of shares traded was 38,094 at the BSE (1.34 p.m., Thursday).