JK Lakshmi Cement Limited (JKL)reported strong outperformance for Q2FY2021 earnings led by strong cement volume offtake and reduced opex/tone. JKL's standalone revenues grew 11.7% y-o-y to Rs. 1045 crore led by 15.8% y-o-y rise in cement volume to 2.39 million tone (much higher than our as well as street estimate). The blended realization improved by 1.1% q-o-q (down 3.5% y-o-y) to Rs. 4381/tone. On the opex front, lower power & fuel cost (down 14.9% y-o-y on per tone basis led by lower pet coke prices) and lower freight costs (down 4.8% y-o-y, down 2.1% q-o-q) led to an overall decline in opex/tone at Rs. 3598 (down 5.8% y-o-y, up 0.5% q-o-q). Hence, EBITDA/tone increased by 8.5% y-o-y (up 4% q-o-q) to Rs. 783 (versus our estimate of Rs. 736/tone). Consequently,...