Nalco Q1 net jumps 18%

CORPORATE SCORECARD

Riding on higher prices of aluminium and alumina in the international market, National Aluminium Co (Nalco) reported a 17.6 per cent increase in net profit in the first quarter of the current financial year. Net profit went up to Rs 525.33 crore in the quarter ended June 30, 2008, as compared with Rs 446.66 crore in the corresponding previous period.

Nalco CMD C R Pradhan attributed this performance to increase in production and sales, favourable variation in exchange rate and better price realisation on the London Metal Exchange (LME).

The average LME price of aluminium has risen to $3,040 per tonne from $2,819 last year. Similarly, the alumina price has gone up to $401 per tonne from $282 during the same period.

 

The company achieved a turnover of Rs 1,606.41 crore (Rs 1,287.12 crore) in the quarter, up 24.8 per cent.

On the sales front, alumina sales increased by 6.56 per cent to 221,405 tonnes (207,765 tonne). Similarly, aluminium sales increased by 10.86 per cent to 75,858 tonnes (84,103 tonnes).

It may be noted the single-window clearance authority (SLSWCA) of the Orissa government recently cleared Nalco’s Rs 16, 345 crore investment proposal for setting up a 0.5 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) smelter and 1,260 mw captive power plant at Brajarajnagar in Jharsuguda district.

The proposal now awaits the nod of the high level clearance authority (HLCA) of the state, headed by the chief minister.

Meanwhile, Rs 5,000-crore second phase expansion project of the company is nearing completion.

It has also chalked out plans to invest around Rs 40,000 crore in various greenfield projects in India and abroad, including Indonesia, South Africa and Iran.

Early this year, the company had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the government of Indonesia, to set up a 5-lakh-tonne smelter and a 1,250 mw captive power plant there.

It plans to invest around Rs 14,000 crore in this greenfield project, for which Tanjung Enim and Tanjung Api-Api are the probable sites. Its consultants have favoured Tanjung Api-Api, based on their preliminary site survey and studies.

That apart, the company is also pushing ahead with its plan to open a new bauxite mine in Andhra Pradesh and set up an alumina refinery there.