Higher sales boost JSW Steel Q4 net to Rs 482.83 cr

Private steel manufacturer JSW Steel today reported a consolidated net profit at Rs 482.83 crore for the fourth quarter of last financial year on the back of higher sales.
Net profit of the company had stood at Rs 295.91 crore in the same period of last fiscal.
Gross sales of the steel firm were at Rs 15,242 crore during the quarter.
"Despite a tough economic environment, we have improved our performance in all parameters during the fourth quarter of the last financial year," Joint Managing Director and Group Chief Financial Officer of JSW Steel, Seshagiri Rao told reporters here.
The company said in a BSE filing that the results are not fully comparable with corresponding periods of the previous year as "the Bombay High Court sanctioned a composite scheme of amalgamation... Amongst JSW Steel Ltd, JSW Ispat Steel Ltd...With effect from July 1, 2012....

"The certified copy is filed with Registrar of Companies on June 1, 2013. Accordingly, effects of the scheme is considered in the results for the quarter and year ended March 31, 2014."

During the January-March period, JSW Steel had crude steel production of 3.15 million tonnes, up 49 per cent over the same period a year ago. Its exports stood at 0.87 million tonnes during this period.
Rao said that the steel firm had a 46 per cent growth in consolidated pre tax profit at Rs 2,529 crore with EBITDA margin at around 22 per cent during January-March period.
For the whole financial year, the steel firm reported a 53 per cent fall in its consolidated net profit at Rs 451.95 crore in FY14 against Rs 963.11 crore reported in FY13.

However, gross sales grew 32 per cent at Rs 54,621 crore during the last financial year.
Talking on the net debt, Rao said the net debt stood at Rs 34,014 crore by the end of March quarter with a debt to equity ratio of 1.54.
"We plan to reduce it to below 1.5 in the future," Rao said.
On the new projects, JSW Steel will increase capacity of its Dolvi plant to 5 million tonne from 3.3 million tonnes with an investment of Rs 3,300 crore.
"We plan to commission the new capacity by September 30, 2015," Rao said.
He, further, said that the company would raise around Rs 5,500 crore of debt in the near future in order to fund expansion of Dolvi unit along with refinancing part of its existing debt.

Talking on the demand outlook, the company said it expects current financial year to be better than last fiscal.
"We aim 6 per cent growth in crude steel production at 12.90 million tonne in FY15," Rao said adding that it hopes its saleable steel sales would grow at 5 per cent during the current fiscal.
The company scrip shed 0.90 per cent to close at Rs 1,227.55 apiece on the BSE today.