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Bhubaneswar, Jan 3: Aluminium major National Aluminium Company (Nalco) has registered a 42 per cent increase in net profit in the first half of this fiscal. According to the company, the profits rode on a 30 per cent growth in net sales turnover from Rs3,224 crore during the same period last fiscal to Rs4,179 crore.
“We saw a 92 per cent growth in net profits during July to September by realising Rs235 crore against Rs121 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal,” TK Chand, CMD Nalco, said. He was speaking with reporters here Wednesday at the official announcement of a two-day foundation day celebration that starts Thursday.
Chand said the company operated its bauxite mines at full capacity and was recognised as the lowest cost producer of Alumina for 2016 and 2017 by Wood Mackenzie. Also, the CMD said, share price of Nalco increased by 31.7 per cent this fiscal and market sentiments continued to remain positive owing to strong fundamentals.
The average aluminium price, Chand said, is expected to move up by $150 per tonne in 2018-19 on the back of smelter capacity cuts in China and pick-up in demand in the European Union (EU) and North American markets, besides higher input costs.
Further, Chand said the bauxite mines of the Navratna firm produced 68.25 lakh tonnes of ore while its refinery produced 21 lakh tonnes of aluminium, the highest till date in both cases. Nalco had gained Rs100 crore from the implementation of GST and passed on the benefits at the rate of Rs3,000 per tonne to customers as stipulated in the GST Act.
The firm will break ground soon for its 5th stream refinery and Pottangi mine that will cost them Rs5,540 crore and is to be commissioned by December 2020. Chand went on to list other developments Nalco witnessed in the fiscal, including receipt of clearance for transfer of land in Utkal D block, although environmental clearance is awaited.
On the upcoming Aluminium Park, Chand said 60 to 70 companies had shown interest in setting up plants there and that the company had committed to supply 50,000 tonnes of molten aluminium per year to ancillary industries setting base in the park for 20 years under conditions laid out in the joint venture. “It will help the industries save Rs8,000 to Rs9,000 per tonne on average,” Chand explained. He also said the company was setting up a Rs1,999-crore, 2.7-lakh-tonne-per-annum caustic plant in Gujarat, which is to “be commissioned by 2019-20”.
