SAIL Q1 Net rises 18 pc on higher sales

Buoyed by higher sales and price of steel, state-run Steel Authority of India today reported 18 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 530 crore for April-June quarter.
The state-run steel maker, which had clocked Rs 451 crore net profit in the corresponding quarter a year ago, indicated that it will maintain the momentum with demand being "resurgent" as the market has "firmed up".
"I think net sales realisation will improve further. It is certainly better than before. Market has firmed up and there has been a resurgent in demand. Monsoon is going to be over in next few weeks and I believe, demand will be brisk," SAIL Chairman C S Verma said after announcing results.

"The management's continued emphasis on production and sale of value-added products has enabled significantly higher net sales realisation (NSR), which was better than the earlier quarters," he added.
Net sales realisation of the company rose to Rs 36,858 per tonne during the quarter from Rs 35,777 a tonne. Its sales also rose to 2.76 million tonnes (MT) during the April-June quarter against 2.62 MT during the same period last year.
Both these factors helped the company to improve its turnover to Rs 12,515 crore, registering a growth of 10 per cent over the same period last year.
Verma said the hot metal capacity of the company has gone up to 17.5 million tonnes per year (MTPA) and is slated to touch to 19.5 MTPA by the end of the current year.

The current phase of the expansion, taking the company's capacity to 23.5 MTPA, would be over next year. He said SAIL has plans to take its capacity further to 50 MTPA by 2025 in the next phase.