Private steelmaker JSW Steel on Friday reported returning to black as it posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 2,773 crore for the July-September quarter on the back of higher income and exceptional gains.
The company suffered a loss of Rs 915 crore in the second quarter of the last financial year.
The total income increased to Rs 44,821 crore in the second quarter of the current fiscal as against Rs 41,966 crore a year ago, JSW Steel said in a regulatory filing.
JSW Steel’s expenses were lower at Rs 40,801 crore in the quarter under review against Rs 43,354 crore in the year-ago quarter.
In a statement, the company said its capex spend during the second quarter of 2023-24 (FY24) in India was Rs 3,701 crore and at consolidated level Rs 3,816 crore.
During the first half of 2023-24, the capital expenditure in India was Rs 7,795 crore and consolidated Rs 7,996 crore, against the planned capex spend of Rs 18,800 crore in India and Rs 20,000 crore consolidated for FY24.
The company produced 6.34 million tonnes (MT) of crude steel in July-September 2023, up 12 per cent compared to 5.66 MT in the same quarter of FY 2022-23.
Sales increased by 10 per cent to 6.34 MT in the quarter from 5.74 a year ago. Exports, at 0.69 MT constituted 11 per cent of sales from the Indian operations.
The company had taken certain maintenance shutdowns at Indian operations during the quarter, and the average capacity utilization was 89 per cent. The capacity utilization was lower at the Ohio, US operations due to adverse market conditions, JSW Steel said.
The company was able to reduce inventories by 0.3 million tonnes during the quarter. The company had a “fair value gain of Rs 780 crores on its investments held in CSSL upon fair valuation pursuant to merger of CSSL and JISPL”. It also had a gain of Rs 198 crore upon sale of property, plant and equipment and mineral rights held at West Virginia.
The company also noted an exceptional provision amounting to Rs 389 crores pursuant to dismissal of the company’s writ petition by High Court of Bombay, Goa Bench in the Goa Green Cess matter.