Feb 6 (Reuters) - Shree Cement reported quarterly revenue and profit below expectations on Friday, hurt by lower prices and dull demand in its mainstay North India market owing to pollution-induced construction halts. 

The Gurugram-based company's net profit for the quarter ended December rose about 21% on year to 2.79 billion Indian rupees ($30.77 million), missing analysts' average expectation of 4.06 billion rupees.

The company incurred a 560 million-rupee one-time charge in the quarter due to the country's new labour codes.

Overall revenue from operations came in at 44.16 billion rupees, below expectations of 48.99 billion rupees.

The company's volumes rose 2%, compared with 6.8% in the last quarter. 

For further earnings highlights, click here.

KEY CONTEXT 

North India saw intense seasonal air pollution during the quarter, including in the Delhi-National Capital Region, where authorities ordered temporary construction halts to curb dust. 

Cement demand strengthened across most of the country in December, Jefferies said, rebounding after a festival-related lull that typically triggers labour shortages and weighs on consumption.

Shree Cement was expected to post volume growth of 3.1%-6.5%, estimates from four brokerages showed.

Average pan-India cement prices fell 6% on year in the quarter after government tax cuts, according to Ambit Capital.

PEER COMPARISON 

    Valuation Estimates Analysts'

(next 12 (next 12 sentiment

months) months) 

  RIC PE EV/ Pri Reve Prof Mea # Stock Div

EBI ce/ nue it n of to yie

TDA Sal grow grow rat ana price ld

es th th ing lys targe (%)

(%) (%) * ts t**

Shree 44 16. 4.2 9.94 26.4 Hol 23 0.91 0.5

Cement .1 82 4 0 d 7

Ltd 2

UltraTec 35 19. 3.7 12.3 32.4 Buy 38 0.92 0.6

h Cement .3 59 4 7 4 1

Ltd 9

Ambuja 32 14. 2.7 16.9 9.15 Buy 40 0.86 0.3

Cements .0 99 8 8 7

Ltd 7

Dalmia 30 11. 2.4 9.82 19.4 Buy 35 0.90 0.4

Bharat .2 76 3 8 2

Ltd 1

* The mean of analyst ratings standardised to a scale of Strong Buy, Buy, Hold, Sell, and Strong Sell

** The ratio of the stock's last close to analysts' mean price target; a ratio above 1 means the stock is trading above the PT

OCTOBER-DECEMBER STOCK PERFORMANCE 

-- All data from LSEG

-- $1 = 90.6590 Indian rupees

(Reporting by Hritam Mukherjee and Brijesh Patel in Bengaluru; editing by Harikrishnan Nair)