A year after Rs 8-bn loss, SAIL posts net profit of Rs 5.4 bn in Q1

Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) on Friday said it posted a net profit of Rs 5.4 billion in the quarter ended June 30, 2018 as compared to a net loss of Rs 8 billion in the corresponding quarter last year.

The steel maker's turnover, in the quarter under review, rose by 22.42 per cent to Rs 157.43 billion over the corresponding period last year.

"The Ebitda (interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) in Q1 FY19 (first quarter of 2018-19) was recorded at Rs 26.85 billion which was Rs 227 billion in corresponding period last year, indicating an acceleration of the overall performance of the company...," it said in a statement.

During the first three months of the current fiscal, its saleable steel production was 3.61 million tonnes (mt) which rose 13 per cent over same period last year and the company's sales volume at 3.271 mt in the quarter under review was also 8 per cent higher over year-ago period.

The Ebitda per tonne of sales at Rs 8,211 for the quarter reflects a robust functioning of all the processes, it said, adding that the steel producer recorded improvement in all the techno-economic parameters including coke rate by 3 per cent, blast furnace productivity by 2 per cent and specific energy consumption by 3 per cent over corresponding period last year.

Speaking on the performance, SAIL Chairman Saraswati Prasad said that operational performance of the company has recorded improvement over the past many quarters and this trend is likely to continue.