JSW Steel Q4 net surges over two-fold to Rs 171 cr

Sajjan Jindal-led JSW Steel today reported an over two-fold jump in consolidated net profit at Rs 171.25 crore for the March quarter and chalked out capex of Rs 7,000 crore over the next two years.
"Our net profit increased to Rs 171.25 crore for the March quarter as compared to Rs 62.38 crore in the year-ago period due to increased volume growth," JSW Steel Joint Managing Director and Group CFO Seshagiri Rao told reporters here.
However, total consolidated income fell by 15 per cent to Rs 10,697.52 crore in the fourth quarter against Rs 12,599.70 crore in the same period of 2014-15.

The company's overseas subsidiaries are not operating and hence have not contributed to the growth, Rao added.
The company recommissioned blast furnaces at Vijayanagar and Salem in February and at Dolvi in March. As a result, the company has been able to record crude steel production at 3.21 million tonnes for the quarter, up 5 per cent y-o-y and 19 per cent q-o-q.
Saleable steel sales volume grew to 3.28 million tonnes, up 7 per cent y-o-y and 29 per cent q-o-q, he said.

The company has added 2 million tonne (MT) capacity at Vijaynagar and Dolvi units each, he added. The installed capacity of the company has increased by about 25 per cent from 14.3 million tonnes per annum to 18 million tonnes per annum with the completion of these low cost and returns accretive projects, he said.

On the capex plans, Rao said the company looks to invest Rs 7,000 crore over the next two years and will invest Rs 4,300 crore this year and Rs 2,700 crore next year, which includes setting up of 200,000 tonnes tin plate unit at Tarapur in Maharashtra estimated to cost Rs 650 crore.
The firm is also investing Rs 550 crore to resolve the water shortage issue, he said, adding it has no fund raising plans, but it is looking to refinance its debt and reduce cost.
Rao said the company is not selling its overseas assets -- Chile iron ore mines and US plate and pipe mills. These overseas subsidiaries are unviable now but in future they will become viable and the company will wait for right opportunity to restart their operations, he added.

On the outlook, Rao said the company expects crude steel output to grow by 25 per cent to 15.75 MT in 2016-17 and saleable steel sales to rise by 24 per cent to 15 MT.
It expects Indian steel demand to grow by about 6 per cent in 2016-17.