Usha Martin reports Rs 25 crore net profit for Jul-Sep

Steel wire maker Usha Martin Monday reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 25.27 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2018, helped by asset sales and write-backs.

The company had incurred a loss of Rs 72.68 crore during the same quarter a year ago, Usha Martin Limited (UML) said in a statement.

Its total income rose to Rs 645.63 crore in the quarter from Rs 534.36 crore in July-September of financial year 2017-18.

Its expenses were at Rs 616.46 crore as against Rs 504.30 crore in the same quarter of the preceding fiscal.

"Other income for the quarter ended September 30, 2018 include profit on sale of land Rs 260 lakhs, profit on sale of asset held for disposal Rs 612 lakhs and liabilities no longer required written back Rs 1,064 lakhs (June 30, 2018 includes Rs 204 lakhs towards liabilities no longer required written back)," the company said in a statement.

On November 11, UML had said that its shareholders have approved the sale of the company's steel business to Tata Steel as a going concern on a slump sale basis.

A special resolution in this regard was passed with requisite majority at Usha Martin Limited's extraordinary general meeting, with 99.99 per cent shareholders voting in its favour, the company had informed the exchanges in a regulatory filing.

"The resolution proposed herein above has been passed with requisite majority," Usha Martin said.

Tata Steel had earlier said it has executed definitive agreements for the acquisition of UML's steel business for Rs 4,300-4,700 crore through a slump sale on a going concern basis.

According to Usha Martin Limited (UML), the sale of its steel business to Tata Steel will help the company significantly reduce its debt.

Meanwhile, Prashant Jhawar, former Chairman of Usha Martin, urged stock exchanges to seek information from the company related to its debt level as on September 30, 2018 besides other financial details.

In a letter to stock exchanges on Monday, he said that "as per two news articles, the MD (Managing Director) and CFO (Chief Financial Officer) of Usha Martin reported that post sale of steel division of the said company, the outstanding debt of Rs 4,700 crore as on June 30, will get reduced to close to Rs 400 crore."