Jindal Steel and Power (JSPL) on Tuesday reported 14% decline in its net profit of R869.94 crore during the October-December quarter. The company had posted a net profit of R1,015 crore in the corresponding period last year. The company?s net sales during the period, however, was up 10% at R4,801.63 crore from R4,357.69 crore during the same period last year.
On the back of lower power tariff, the company?s subsidiary Jindal Power registered an almost 30% fall in its net sales at R557.55 crore from R799.64 crore in the Q3 of last year. Net profit also fell from R481.14 crore to R255.75 crore.
JSPL managing director and chief executive Ravi Uppal said, ?The reason for the fall in profits from power business is because of lower generation due to transmission difficulties and dip in average electricity tariffs.?
JSPL?s average tariff during the third quarter was around R3 a unit compared with R4 in the same quarter in the previous year. The company is now looking at signing long-term power purchase agreements with various state electricity distribution utilities (Discoms).
?We have bid for the Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh Discoms? bids for long-term PPAs. There are many other bids that are going to come up in future and we will look at all of them,? said Sushil Maroo, director and group chief financial officer.
The company, at present, has a borrowing of R19,000 crore. Maroo said the borrowings would continue depending on the fund requirement. ?We are going to raise $400 million through external commercial borrowings for our international operations and would also look at raising some funds through a 10-year bond issue in the next six-months,? he said.
The company?s share closed down 3.35% at R392.45 on the BSE on Tuesday.
