SAIL reports Rs 343 cr loss in Dec qtr

The country's largest steel maker Steel Authority of India on Friday reported Rs 343.57 crore consolidated net loss for the third quarter ended December 31, mainly on account of increased expenses.

The company had a net profit of Rs 638.79 crore during the same quarter a year ago, the state-run firm said in a BSE filing.

During October-December 2019, the company's total income was Rs 16,714.87 crore as against Rs 15,906.68 crore in the year-ago quarter.

Its total expenses were at Rs 17,312.64 crore, higher from Rs 14,937.13 crore in October-December 2018.

In a statement, SAIL said, despite the reduction in prices, the company has been able to achieve higher revenue.

The production was at 3.9 million tonne, while sales stood at 4.1 MT, up 3 per cent and 26 per cent, respectively, over the same period last year, it said.

"Reduction in prices, which has hurt the financial performance of all major domestic steel producers during the quarter, impacted the profitability of SAIL as well with the company posting a (standalone) net loss of Rs 429.62 crore in third quarter of FY20," the company said.

SAIL Chairman Anil Kumar Chaudhary said in the statement that it was a challenging quarter for the entire industry. Financial performance of all major producers was impacted during the period.

"Despite lower steel prices amidst stiff competition during the third quarter, we could achieve significant growth in sales and saleable steel production. The recent improvement in the market conditions combined with the efforts towards cost reduction, we are hopeful of doing better in the fourth quarter," he added.