Jindal Stainless Hisar Q4 FY20 profit up 43% on back of reduced expenses

Jindal Stainless Hisar Ltd (JSHL) on Wednesday reported 43 per cent jump in standalone net profit at Rs 93.79 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2020, mainly on account of reduced expenses.

The company's net profit stood at Rs 65.59 crore in January-March 2018-19, JSHL said in a BSE filing.

However, total income during the quarter under review fell to Rs 2,052 crore from Rs 2,385 crore in the year-ago period.

Total expenses also fell to Rs 1,995 crore from Rs 2,301 crore a year ago.

For 2019-20, the company reported a Rs 320 crore net profit, higher from Rs 262 crore in the preceding fiscal.

"As the company adopted a new tax regime, there has been a positive impact on tax expenses of Rs 57 crore and Rs 22 crore respectively for the quarter and year ended March 31, 2020, " it said in a statement.

JSHL Managing Director Abhyuday Jindal said the performance of the company was stable despite global uncertainties and weak growth in the last quarter of 2019-20.

Business of company's specialty products division, which supplies high-end stainless steel products like precision strips, blade steel, and coin blanks to global markets, grew by 13 per cent on an annual basis, he said.

On the impact of Covid-19 on the company's operations, the statement said, the lockdown led to a shutdown of the manufacturing facilities from March 25 until May 6.

Resumption of partial operations in a phased manner began on May 7 in accordance with the government directives. However, ramping up of operations will be done gradually as per the resumption plan of the company, aligned with the market outlook, it said.

On the sector, it said the stainless steel sector has a direct correlation with India's GDP growth and disruption in the country's overall economic activity on account of Covid-19 has subdued economic sentiment for the sector.

"Early signs of economic recovery can already be seen since the beginning of May 2020. With the recent announcements by the government in favour of domestic industries, we are expectant that undue pressure exerted by subsidized and irrational imports will abate at last. The company is focusing on export orders at the moment," it said.