JSW Steel's Q4 profit slips 65% as input costs rise
JSW Steel Ltd on Friday reported a 64.54% fall in its consolidated net profit for the March quarter to ₹1,299 crore mainly due to higher coking coal prices. The Sajjan Jindal-led company’s consolidated revenue from operations fell 1.5% year-on-year to ₹46,269 crore. A Bloomberg poll of analystshad expected JSW Steel to post a profit of ₹1,661.35 crore for the March quarter on revenue of ₹44,676.34 crore.
The cost of raw materials consumed by the company rose to ₹24,541 crore in January-March against ₹23,905 crore in the same period of FY23. The company’s consolidated Ebitda, or earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation, dropped sequentially during the fourth quarter to ₹6,124 crore, down 15% sequentially. Its operating margin stood at 13.2% during the quarter.
The company's Ohio subsidiary reported an Ebitda loss of $5.2 million for the fourth quarter, while its US plate and pipe mill unit recorded an Ebitda profit of $23.7 million. The company’s Italy operations reported an Ebitda profit of €7.5 million. Among key concerns, the company said, were the rising level of steel imports into India, making the country a net importer of the alloy.
“During Q4 FY24, India’s finished steel consumption grew 9% YoY... That said, India was a net steel importer during FY24 with elevated imports (up 37.4% YoY in FY24), especially from China; this remains a challenge for the domestic steel industry," the company said in a statement. JSW Steel’s domestic sales during the quarter fell 2% sequentially stood and 5% year-on-year to 5.16 million tonne, with the capacity utilization at 93%.
Read more on livemint.com
