JSW Steel Ltd on Monday announced that the company posted a growth of 28.38% in its consolidated net profit to Rs 1,658.47 crore for the year ended March 31, 2008 against Rs 1,291.89 crore in FY07. The company’s total income for the year stood at Rs 12,717.80, up 46.19% compared to Rs 8,699.59 crore last year.
For the fourth quarter ended March 31,2008 the company’s net profit was Rs 449.44 crore with the total income of Rs 4,949.14 crore. However, the surging input cost squeezed the EBIDTA margins in Q4 by 11.6% and for FY08 by 2.66%.
Says Sajjan Jindal, vice-chairman and MD of the company, “The rise in the input cost that includes iron ore and coke has exerted pressure on EBIDTA margins. However, in absolute terms the company has shown increase in EBIDTA, cash profit and net profit mainly on account of volume growth and efficiency in operations.”
The figures for the current quarter and for the year include the figures of erstwhile Southern Iron and Steel Company Ltd (SISCOL) and hence, are not comparable with the figures of the corresponding periods, the company informed.
JSW Steel shares on Monday were down by 1.87% or Rs 17.10 to close at Rs 899.05 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.
“We are targeting a 53% growth in volumes this year compared to 33% last year. Moreover, we are looking at increasing the product mix along with improving the efficiency by reducing cost of production to mitigate the squeeze in EBIDTA margins,” said Jindal.
The company will spend around Rs 1,000 crore in cost reduction initiatives, revealed a company official. JSW Steel will commission 30MW captive power plant to meet the requirement of downstream unit to be commissioned by October 2008. Also it will set up new captive power plant of 300 MW to achieve self sufficiency at Vijaynagar works by 2010. On account of 15% export duty being levied on steel exports, JSW is planning to reduce its exports in the current fiscal. “We will reduce our exports to about 10 to 15% this fiscal form 26% in FY08,” said Jindal.
Meanwhile the board of the company has recommended a dividend of Rs 14 per equity share of Rs 10 each for FY08.
