Sail net profit declines 71.6% at Rs 446.53 cr in Q4

It had reported a net profit of Rs 1,576.98 crore in the same quarter ended March 31, 2012

Steel Authority of India Ltd had a 71.7 per cent decline in  net profit at Rs 446.5 crore for the quarter ended March 31, due to lower sales and high interest cost.

It had reported a net profit of Rs 1,577 crore in the same quarter a year before. Interest costs grew 77 per cent to Rs 215 crore, though tax outgo declined 59 per cent to Rs 295 crore.

The net sales realisation (NSR) declined by 11 per cent in the quarter to Rs 34,489 a tonne of steel against Rs 38,717 in the year-ago period.

The company made a provision of Rs 900 crore on wages for non-executive employees and for gratuity and leave encashment, said chairman C S Verma.

The wage bill grew 8.8 per cent to Rs 8,673 crore during 2012-13. Total income declined 11.2 per cent to Rs 12,330 crore for the  quarter against Rs 13,885 crore in the same quarter of 2011-12. The decline in NSR of 11 per cent a tonne adversely affected profitability, with the negative impact from this factor alone being Rs 1,347 crore. 

For the year ended March 31, 2013, the net profit was down 38.74% at Rs 2,170.35 crore.The total income declined 3.75% to Rs 44,598.28 crore.

Sail produced 13.4 million tonnes (MT) of steel in 2012-13 and operated at 103% of its capacity despite challenging market conditions and demand stagnation, the company said. In 2013-14, the company would add 5 MT capacity. Currently, the steel major has a capcity of 14MT.

Shares of the company were down marginally by 0.92% and closed at Rs 59.15 today at Bombay Stock Exchange.