SAIL net doubles
29 Jan 2010
Indian steel major Steel Authority of India Limited reported net sales of Rs9,880 crore for the third quarter of 2009-10, up 11 per cent year-on-year, despite a 2 per cent decline in volume, the company said yesterday.
The company's steel sales was at 2.9 million tonnes (mt) against 3 mt in the second quarter.
The net profit nearly doubled to Rs1,675.5 crore for the October-December quarter due to improved sales, as against Rs843.3 crore in the same period last year.
However, operating margins more than doubled to 26.59 per cent year-on-year helped by lower cost of raw materials such as coking coal.
"Our cost of imported coal was much lower in Q3 this year as compared to last year's," SAIL CMD S K Roongta said.
The company said it is planning a capital expenditure of as much as Rs13,000 crore to expand capacity in 2010-11 compared with an estimated Rs10,350 crore this financial year.
It also plans to sell 10 per cent of its equity through a public offer to raise as much as Rs5,000 crore, Rungta added.
