SAIL Posts Rs 816 Crore Net Profit for March Quarter

Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) announced its financial results for the March quarter of the financial year 2017-18 (Q4 FY18), and for FY18. After returning to profits in Q3 FY18, the company in Q4 FY18 recorded a net profit of Rs 816 Crore reaffirming SAIL's positive performance. This comes after making a provision of Rs 582 Crore towards enhanced gratuity recently approved by Government of India. All the five integrated steel plants of the company have also recorded individual profits in Q4 FY18. SAIL management's sustained efforts for process integration starting from production till reaching the customers, the intensive marketing efforts along with ramping up of production and stabilization of new mills are all yielding results and a novel end-to-end approach with its new product offerings helped the company achieve a stronger position.

Company's net turnover in Q4 FY18 of Rs 16,811 Crore saw an increase of 34% over corresponding period last year. The Q4 FY18 EBITDA at Rs 2,624 Crore is highest in the last twenty-seven quarters. The EBITDA per tonne of sales for Q4 FY 18 is Rs 7,020. The total sales volume in Q4 FY18 was 3.738 Million Tonnes (MT) which increased by 8.4% over CPLY.

Slimming the losses by around 83% in FY18, the Profit After Tax on standalone basis improved to Rs (-) 482 Crore from Rs (-) 2,833 Crore in FY17. The consolidated profit after tax stood at Rs (-) 281 Crore for FY18 as against Rs. (-) 2,756 in CPLY. The strategic and persistent approach to improve operational profitability assisted SAIL to stay EBIDTA positive in FY 18; recorded at Rs.5,184 Crore. The Company registered highest sales volume for the year in FY18 at 14.08 MT which is higher by 7.4% over CPLY.

SAIL's performance on the production front recorded highest ever quarterly crude steel production of around 4.0 MT in Q4 FY18 with a growth of 6% over CPLY. In Q4 FY18, highest quarterly Concast production of 3.406 MT with growth of 8% over CPLY was also recorded. In the same quarter, the best ever quarterly Coke Rate recorded a reduction of 3% over CPLY, BF productivity was higher by 4% over CPLY and Specific Energy Consumption improved to 6.38 Gcal/tcs, lower by 2% as compared to CPLY.

On this occasion, chairman, SAIL, P K Singh said that, the effect of synergised team work across SAIL, integration of every process and continual focus to service the customers with world class products is finally beginning to show. The chairman further said that SAIL, is ready with an array of value added products which are tailored for today's requirements. The domestic market is showing very good growth signs, which is backed up strongly by the Government's initiative to enhance domestic steel consumption.

Singh also stated that, new mills in SAIL are offering products for every segment and the company's new marketing initiatives are not only exploring new markets but also reaching out to people in the far-flung areas to raise awareness about steel usage. This will also help SAIL to actively contribute towards the targets envisaged in National Steel Policy. He further said that SAIL's new products will meet the demands of retail, rural as well as large projects.