SAIL sails smoothly in Q1, sees demand rise
9 Sep 2016 12:32 AM GMT
India's largest steelmaker SAIL on Thursday said its standalone net loss widened to Rs 534.92 crore in the June quarter this fiscal on account of a dip in sales realisation and higher interest and depreciation charges.
The state-run firm had posted a net loss of Rs 248.24 crore in the year-ago period, it said in a BSE filing. Total standalone income of the Maharatna firm declined by 3 per cent to Rs 9,238.08 crore in April-June this fiscal from Rs 9,493.11 crore during the same quarter in 2015-16. However on the brighter side, despite a 5 per cent fall in net sales realisation, SAIL posted a positive EBIDTA after three quarters with a growth of 9.3 per cent.
That apart, the company registered its highest ever June quarter saleable steel production of 3.44 million tonnes (mt), which is 11 per cent higher that the same quarter in 2015-16. SAIL also managed to reduce its expenses to Rs 9,604.52 crore from Rs 9,856.23 crore during the period under review.Â
Due to cost reduction measures, ramping up production from new mills as well as rationalising the production from inefficient routes, SAIL achieved a 10 per cent reduction in its variable cost in April-June compared to a year-ago. On higher net loss, the company said that the loss after tax for Q1 2016-17 was Rs 536 crore against a loss of Rs 248 crore in year-ago in spite of higher EBIDTA primarily due to higher interest and depreciation charges on account of capitalisation of new assets.
SAIL Chairman P K Singh said in present market conditions the company is following a strategy of concentrating on customer, competition and change to attain its targets. Sounding positive on the road ahead, he said: "We believe that on the back of a strong monsoon and government's plans to invest massively in infrastructure such as roads, railways, highways, ports would result in increased steel demand in the second half of the current financial year." Â
August steel imports fall, exports rise
New Delhi: August turned out to be a bright month for the over $100 billion Indian steel industry, with imports of the metal declining, while exports and consumption registering an upward trend. After declining for 2 consecutive months, country's steel consumption rose, though marginally, to 6.97 million tonnes (mt) last month compared to July 2016. Consumption in the world's third largest steel producer rose 2.7 per cent in August this year, against July, while on year-on-year basis the growth was one per cent, data by Steel Ministry's Joint Plant Committee showed.
Next Story
