JSW Steel soars post Q4 earnings

JSW Steel has moved higher by 6% at Rs 657 after reporting better-than-expected consolidated net profit of Rs 770 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 2012. Analysts on average had expected net profit at Rs 508 crore.

Net sales grew 41% at Rs 10,153 crore on year-on-year (y-o-y) basis. The company has achieved 33% Y-o-Y and 21% Q-o-Q jump in steel volume at 2.31 million tonnes (mt) due to capacity addition.

Meanwhile, India's third-biggest steelmaker is expected to sell 9 mt of steel in the financial year 2012-13, compared with 7.82 mt in 2011-12. Production was expected to rise to 8.5 mt this fiscal year compared, from 7.43 mt.

The company’s consolidated net debt gearing as on March 31, 2012 improved to 0.98 against 1.08 as on December 31, 2011, JSW Steel said in a release.

The stock opened at Rs 615 and hit a high of Rs 658 on the National Stock Exchange. A combined 2.52 million shares have changed hands on the counter so far on both the exchanges.