JSW Steel reports 37% decline in net profit at Rs 1,595 cr in Sept quarter

JSW Steel on Friday reported over 37 per cent decline in consolidated net profit at Rs 1,595 crore for the the quarter ended September 30, 2020.

The company had posted Rs 2,536 crore profit for the same quarter a year ago, JSW Steel said in a BSE filing.

Total income stood at Rs 19,416 crore as against Rs 17,728 crore in the corresponding quarter of the preceding fiscal.

Expenses were at Rs 16,958 crore as against Rs 17,025 crore in the year-ago quarter.

The company also informed exchanges about acquiring four mine blocks in the auctions held by the Odisha government in February. JSW Steel has signed the mining development and production agreements with regard to all the four blocks and executed the lease deeds.

"Acquisition cost incurred for the mines such as stamp duty, registration fees and other such cost amounting to Rs 817 crore have been capitalised as intangible assets. The company has also paid upfront premium payment amounting to Rs 1,290 crore which would be adjusted against the premium payment due to the government," it said.

Mining operations have started at all the said blocks.

JSW Steel further said a resolution plan submitted by its wholly- owned subsidiary JSW Steel Coated Products Ltd for Asian Colour Coated Ispat Ltd (ACCIL) has been approved with certain modifications by the National Company Law Tribunal, New Delhi.

ACCIL manufactures downstream steel products at its facilities located in Khapoli in Maharashtra and Bawal in Haryana.

On the impact of COVID-19, the company said outbreak of the virus and the measures to curtail it caused disturbances and slowdown of the economic activity.

The group's operations too were impacted in June quarter as the company had to scale down its operations across all plants due to reasons like supply chain constraints, shortage of workforce etc.

However, with relaxations provided by the government, the company gradually ramped up its production levels.

The company achieved production of 3.85 million tonne during the quarter ended September 30. With this, JSW Steel achieved average capacity utilisation of 86 per cent in the quarter.