SAIL firms up output in all steel product categories

State-owned steel maker SAIL on Friday reported 26 per cent fall in net profit to Rs 334 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2014-15. The country’s largest steel producer had posted <g data-gr-id="23">net</g> profit of Rs 453 crore in the January-March quarter of the 2013-14 fiscal.

SAIL said in a BSE filing that its total income declined 13 per cent to Rs 11,684 crore in the January-March quarter of the last fiscal, from Rs 13,684 crore in the year-ago period, it added. On the fall in net profit, SAIL Chairman C S Verma said: “If you look at results SAIL’s performance in the fourth quarter has been market leading. The profits declined due to a gain of Rs 1,056 crore in 2013-14 fiscal that the firm got by winning a commercial dispute.”

In 2013-14, the firm’s profit included receipt of Rs 1,056 crore from miner Vale, Australia on account of a favourable arbitration/court award in a commercial dispute. SAIL’s profit and sales margins are best compared to the results for the last quarter, Verma said. “At a time when market conditions have been challenging, we maintained our output and braved headwinds such as cheap imports among others to give a market leading performance,” Verma said.

SAIL stock closed flat at Rs 65.90 on the BSE. SAIL’s crude steel production grew by 10 <g data-gr-id="25">per cent</g> to 3.72 million tonnes (MT) in the fourth quarter of last fiscal from 3.37 MT in the same quarter of 2013-14, Verma said. Hot metal production grew by 16 per cent to 4.22 MT from 3.63 MT and saleable steel output rose by 6 per cent to 3.44 MT from 3.42 MT during the reported quarter, he added.  

SAIL said its Board has recommended a final dividend of Rs 0.25 per share, in addition to an interim dividend of Rs 1.75 per share already paid for the financial year 2014-15 taking the total dividend to Rs 2 per share. 

SAIL’s crude steel production grew by 2 per cent to 13.91 MT in 2014-15 fiscal, from 13.58 MT in 2013-14. Hot metal production grew by 7 per cent to 15.41 MT from 14.45 MT and saleable steel output was almost flat at 12.84 MT from 12.88 MT during the same period.