JSW Steel's Q4 PAT triples to Rs 171 cr

Sajjan Jindal-led JSW Steel reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 171.25 crore in the March 2016 quarter.

The profit was up 174 per cent from the corresponding period last year, mainly on the back of significant fall in total expenses and rise in other income even as net sales of the company declined due to weak realisations.

The topline of the Mumbai-based company stood at Rs 10,471 crore in the quarter gone by, down 15 per cent from the same period last year, as domestic steel prices faced competitive pressure from cheap imports in turn hitting realisations. During the quarter, the company continued to lay thrust on sales of value-added products which accounted for 36 per cent of total sales and mainly focused on the domestic market.

"The imposition of minimum import price on steel has not had much impact as imports continue from China," said Seshagiri Rao, joint managing director and group chief financial officer, JSW Steel. "Though there has been a volume push towards for our topline, weak realisations have kept net sales lower than last year," he added.

In the period under review, JSW Steel's volumes grew five per cent year-on-year as the company restarted its three blast furnaces that were shut on account of maintenance.

According to Bloomberg estimates, JSW Steel was expected to make a loss of Rs 141 crore in the final quarter of FY16 and report a topline of Rs 10,360 crore. The results came at the fag end of market hours. The profit beat enthused the street given that the stock closed with 1.45 per cent gains at Rs 1,310.25 on the BSE on Wednesday.

The company's operating profit jumped 31 per cent year-on-year to Rs 1,030 crore in the March quarter. This was helped by an 18 per cent drop in total expenses mainly because of lower power costs.