Record sales fuel Nalco profits

Riding on the boom in the metals market, National Aluminium Company (Nalco), a public sector major, reported 52 per cent jump in net profit at Rs 2,381 crore in 2006-07, up from Rs 1,562 crore in the previous year.

The company also achieved the highest-ever sales of aluminium, selling 3,56,616 tonnes of the metal in FY07. The previous best sales were 3,53,841 tonnes recorded in 2005-06. The sales in FY07 also happens to be 3.4 per cent more than the targeted 3,45,000 tonnes.

The Nalco board, in its meeting held in Bhubaneswar today, said that it had registered the highest-ever net sales of Rs 5,940 crore in FY07, an increase of 22 per cent over the previous year. The company's export earnings also increased by 12 per cent to Rs 2,585 crore from Rs 2,306 crore in 2005-06.

While the gross margins rose by 40 per cent to Rs 3,942 crore, return on capital employed increased to 32 per cent. This was 25 per cent in 2005-06. Similarly, earnings per share (EPS) increased to Rs 37 from Rs 24 in the previous year.

In another significant achievement, the aluminium smelter of the company achieved 104 per cent capacity utilisation during the year. The company's 960 mw captive power plant located in Anugul also reported the highest-ever power generation of 5,968 million units. The previous best was 5,679 million units in 2005-06.