Nalco FY19 net profit surges 29% to Rs 1,732 crore, best ever in a decade

Bucking market trends and edging past its private peers, the central public sector undertaking National Aluminium Company (Nalco) recorded a 29 per cent spike in its net profit at Rs 1,732 crore for 2018-19 (FY19). Propelled largely by earnings from exports of surplus alumina, Nalco posted its best ever net profit in a decade.

In 2017-18, Nalco had more than doubled its net profit at Rs 1,342 crore. However, the record figure was surpassed in FY19 as Nalco scaled new highs in physical and financial performance.

In FY19, Nalco’s topline grew 21 per cent to reach Rs 11,386 crore. Its exports earnings of Rs 4,792.71 crore signified a year-on-year (y-o-y) growth of 18 per cent. As a public sector enterprise, Nalco earned the tag of third-highest foreign exchange earner. Also, with an Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) of 28 per cent, the aluminium firm raced past its private counterparts. An industry analyst attributed Nalco’s stellar performance to the company’s all-weather business model making it immune to vagaries of metal sector business.

Nalco achieved full nameplate capacity at its captive Panchpatmalli bauxite mines, excavating 7.41 million tonnes (mt). Bauxite despatches moved to 7.23 MT (million tonnes), the best since Nalco commenced commercial operations. Its alumina refinery at Damanjodi touched a record high output of 2.15 MT of alumina hydrate.

The striking takeaway from Nalco’s physical parameters was aluminium production of 0.44 MT, the best in the last eight years. Nalco’s Angul smelter churned out the best ever production of wire rods, billets, green anodes, rodded anodes and T ingots, belying its historical trend when the aluminium major under produced metal because of steep energy costs. To match the record output, Nalco sold 0.44 MT of aluminium and of this, 0.4 MT was sold in the domestic market alone, implying a growth of 14.9 per cent over the previous financial year.