Mumbai, (IANS) : Ambuja Cements Ltd, a part of the global conglomerate Lafarge Holcim, on Friday reported a 357 per cent increase in its standalone net profit to Rs 247 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2017 as compared to Rs 54 crore in the corresponding period of previous financial year.

The jump in net profit was attributed to sharp reduction in depreciation and amortisation expense along tax expenditure.

The company posted net sales of Rs 2,533 crore, up by 5.3 per cent in the quarter under review from Rs 2,406 crore in the year-ago period.

The earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) was at Rs 394 crore during the quarter, down 12.9 percent from Rs 452 crore last year.

The cement producer said the production cost was impacted due to higher petcoke and imported coal prices and sourcing of fly ash from longer leads and increase in diesel prices led to higher freight cost.

“Improving sales volumes, combined with favourable pricing, contributed to a positive quarter despite rising costs. With demonetisation largely behind us, we are well placed to serve both small and large customers,” said company’s MD and CEO Ajay Kapur.

Its sales volume was at 6.02 million tonnes against 5.86 million tonnes during the same period last year.