The company had posted a net profit of Rs 1,216.84 crore in the calendar year 2009, Ambuja Cements said in a statement. The net sales rose by 4.4 percent to Rs 7,390.21 in 2010 as against Rs 7,076.87 crore in 2010.

Ambuja Cements, which is controlled by Swiss Cement major Holcim, also announced a final dividend of equity shares at the rate of Rs 1.4 per share. "With the interim dividend of Rs 1.2 per share paid during the year, the total dividend for the year 2010 works out to Rs. 2.60 per share."

The company's cement production for the calendar year 2010, went up by 6.9 percent to 20.1 million tonnes compared to 18.8 million tonnes in 2009.

The domestic cement sales increased by 8 percent to 19.5 million tonnes from 18 million tonnes during the period under review. However, the exports declined to 5,00,000 tonnes from 7,50,000 tonnes.

Ambuja Cements said that during the last calendar year the company's annual cement capacity increased to 25 million tonnes.

"This will increase further in 2011 to approximately 27 million tonnes, following completion of additional grinding capacity at the Bhatapara (Chhattisgarh) and Maratha (Maharashtra) plants," the statement said.

On the outlook, the company said that margins might remain under pressure in short-term because of imbalance in demand-supply scenario.

"The cement demand-supply imbalance is set to continue for some time and we could therefore see periodic market and price instability. Equally, the upward trend in input costs shows no sign of abatement. Consequently, in the short-term, margins may remain under pressure," it said.

PTI