Ambuja Cements (ACL) has reported a better-than-estimated performance owing to higherthan-expected recovery in average realisation despite cost pressure. Operating profit grew by 6% YoY and 68% QoQ to Rs6.1bn vs. our estimate of Rs5.1bn. Average realisation improved by 7% YoY and 11% QoQ mainly aided by a substantial price recovery in Western markets, where it sells over 40% of its total production. Sales volume grew by 4% YoY and 0.8% QoQ to 6.07mnT. Operating cost/tonne surged by 9% YoY and 1% QoQ to Rs3,641 mainly due to spike in power and fuel cost/tonne (+16% YoY and +4% QoQ) and freight cost/tonne (+7% YoY). While EBITDA margin declined by 116bps YoY to 21.7%, EBITDA/tonne came in at Rs1,010 in 2QCY17 compared to Rs992 and Rs597 in 2QCY16 and 1QCY17, respectively. Net profit stood at Rs3.9bn topping our...