Nalco third quarter net rises 500% to Rs722 cr

12 Feb 2018

National Aluminium Company Limited (Nalco), a `Navratna' PSU, under the ministry of mines, and the country's leading manufacturer and exporter of alumina and aluminium, of Rs722 crore against a net profit of Rs144 crore in the corresponding quarter of previous fiscal - a 500 per cent jump year-on-year.

Nalco reported a net profit of Rs1,085 crore for the nine months ended 31 December 2018 against Rs400 crore in the year-ago period. Profit for the quarter grew 207 per cent compared to Rs235 crore in the preceding quarter.

The financial results for the 3rd quarter and the first nine months of the financial year 2017-18 were taken on record by the board in the meeting held at Bhubaneswar today.

Net sales in the 3rd quarter stood at Rs2,360 crore. With this, the company has been able to break the highest-ever net profit in a quarter during the last ten years.

Similarly, the net profit for the 9 months ended December 2017 works out to Rs1,085 crore (growth of 171 per cent), against the corresponding figure of Rs400 crore for the previous fiscal. Net sales for the 9 months of the fiscal stood at Rs6,538 crore compared to Rs5,071 crore in the corresponding period of previous financial year.

Nalco has also achieved record growth in production in all fronts. During the first nine months of the current fiscal, the company achieved production of 54.40 lakh tonnes of bauxite, as compared to 53.23 lakh tonnes achieved during the comparable period of the previous fiscal. The company produced 15.51 lakh tonnes of alumina hydrate, against 15.27 lakh tonnes achieved in the corresponding period of the previous financial year.

Metal production was 3.17 lakh tonnes, against 2.86 lakh tonnes during the comparable nine months of the previous fiscal, recording a growth of 11 per cent. Net power generated during the period was 4,897 million units, up 9 pr cent, compared with 4,494 million units achieved in the corresponding period of the previous year. The company generated 211 million units of wind power during the first 9 months of this fiscal.

Operational efficiency, cost reduction, strategic management decisions and team work of Nalco played a key role in achieving the record profit.

''With robust monetary policy of the government and demand-supply dynamics brightening, aided by growth in the construction and power sectors, pick-up in the automobile segmentas well as firming up of aluminium prices globally, we hope to post similar results in the next mandate,'' said Tapan Kumar Chand, CMD, Nalco.

It may be noted that the company has recently released its 'Corporate Plan - 2032' wherein it envisages to reach a turnover of Rs. 18,171 crore by 2024 and Rs.31,248 crore by 2032.

The company is vigorously pursuing plans for addition of 0.5 MTPA capacity to its existing smelter, 1 MTPA capacity in its alumina refinery, development of Utkal D&E coal blocks, development of Pottangi bauxite mines, Angul Aluminium Park, 2.7 Lakh TPA caustic soda plant in JV with GACL, coal tar distillation plant in JV with NINL, 1320 MW greenfield thermal power plant in Odisha, overseas acquisition, exploration and processing of strategic minerals through Khanij Bidesh India Ltd (KABIL), a joint venture company of Nalco, HCL  MECL and High end Aluminium Alloy Plant in joint venture with MIDHANI.