Usha Martin PBT doubles

Kolkata: Usha Martin Ltd (the erstwhile Usha Beltron Ltd), India's leading producer of speciality steel and the world's third-largest wire rope manufacturer, has reported continued improved performance for the second quarter ended September 2003.

Revenues from its core business (steel and wire, and wire ropes) have registered a growth of 21 per cent at Rs 240.26 crore in the second quarter of 2003-04 as compared to Rs 197.75 crore in the corresponding period last year. Profit before tax doubled to Rs 6.44 crore from Rs 3.11 crore.

At Rs 23.03 crore, cash profit for the second quarter has risen 17 per cent from Rs 19.64 crore during the same period last year. The company's net sales stood at Rs 207.00 crore as compared to Rs 188.57 crore, showing a growth of 10 per cent.

The captive use of steel at Rs 42.92 crore for the second quarter has risen by 21 per cent as compared to Rs 35.47 crore. This shows the company's continued focus towards improving the share of value-added steel through its downstream products, which has resulted in improved product mix with higher value addition. The company's efforts to improve the working capital cycle have resulted in savings in the interest cost besides improving liquidity.

Says Usha Martin joint managing director Dr P Bhattacharya: "The second quarter performance is a reflection of our focus on the core business of speciality steel, wire ropes and migration towards value-added products. The company's thrust on increasing the share of value-added products through downstream activities will help in improving the margin in absolute terms."

Usha Martin's efforts at moving up the value chain in order to emerge as a fully integrated steel manufacturer took further shape during the quarter. The state-of-the-art bright bar and the conveyor cord facility have stabilised and will contribute to the revenue in the second half of the current financial year. The backward integration project involving the setting up of a 100,000-tonne per year DRI/Sponge iron plant and a 10MW captive power plant based on waste heat recovery process is progressing as per schedule.

The wire rope plant in UAE with a capacity of 6,000 TPA by a subsidiary of the company has been commissioned and the same was inaugurated by Peter Woicke, executive vice-president, International Finance Corporation, Washington, on 25 September 2003. Usha Martin has manufacturing facilities in Ranchi, Jamshedpur, the UK, Thailand and Dubai. It has created a worldwide distribution, service and marketing network spread across the US, the UK, Europe, Africa and the Middle East and the Far East.