SAIL net down 56%
Higher input costs and lower realisation pulled down net profit of Steel Authority of India (SAIL) by 56 per cent to Rs 843 crore in the third quarter ended December 2008. The company’s turnover also dipped 7.5 per cent to Rs 9,946 crore, said a company release.
The company’s share price at the Bombay Stock Exchange today gained 3.14 per cent to Rs 73.80.
“The bottomline was impacted primarily due to a sharp rise in input prices, especially imported and domestic coking coal, ferro-alloys etc. The adverse impact on account of higher prices of coking coal alone amounted to approximately Rs 2,641 crore,” the company said. Besides, the downturn in market during the quarter caused a 20 per cent decline in sales volume at 2.4 million tonnes.
The impact of higher input cost and recession were partially offset through a series of measures and interventions, which included a reduction in usage of imported coking coal in blend by 6 per cent and using tar as alternate fuel.
Major savings were also effected on account of improvement in techno-economic parameters viz. reduction in coke rate by over 2 per cent and energy consumption by 4 per cent during the year and several other cost efficiency measures, resulting in savings of about Rs 275 crore during the quarter.