JSW Steel second-quarter profit beats forecasts on higher output, prices

(Reuters) - Steelmaker JSW Steel Ltd said on Thursday net profit more than doubled in the second quarter, handily beating market estimates on the back of higher steel prices and strong production growth.

Net profit for the Mumbai-based firm in the three months through September rose to 21.26 billion rupees ($290 million) from 8.39 billion a year earlier.

Analysts had on average expected a net profit of 19.58 billion rupees, according to I/B/E/S data from Refinitiv.

The steelmaker posted more than 6 percent year-on-year growth in crude steel production to 4.18 million tonnes in the quarter, aided by higher capacity utilisation at its Vijayanagar and Salem steelworks.

Total revenue from operations for the quarter rose 25 percent to 215.52 billion rupees, while domestic sales volume during the quarter grew 11 percent, JSW said.

Total expenses however jumped 16.1 percent due to increased costs of key inputs such as iron ore and coal, the company said.

JSW also approved a rights issue of new stock worth 50 billion rupees.

Minutes after the results were announced, shares in JSW Steel ended 0.4 percent higher.

($1 = 73.2000 rupees)

(Reporting by Krishna V Kurup in Bengaluru; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and David Holmes)