Gujarat NRE Coke, the country’s largest independent producer of met coke, today posted results that not only stood out amidst the current pall of gloom, but also refurbished the company's image as an achiever, a perennial performer. In the current half year, the company has continued with its dream run and has posted substantially improved figures on all counts - Total Income has gone up by 3. 48 times from Rs.250.96 crores in the six months ended 30.09.07 to Rs.873.69 crores in 30.09.08, while the Net Profit after Tax has moved up from Rs.55.37 crores to Rs.197.15 crores, posting a jump of 3.56 times.
On a quarterly basis, the results are even more impressive : quarter on quarter, the Total Income has shown a jump of 4.86 times from Rs.102.07 crores to Rs.496.05 crores, resulting in a surge of 8.19 times in the Net Profit, from Rs.12.55 crores to Rs.102.75 crores.
"We have had another satisfying quarter" said Mr. Arun Kumar Jagatramka, Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Gujarat NRE Coke Limited. "Fundamentals are not driven by market sentiments. Globally, there is a shortage of good quality Hard Coking coal and met coke and we as an entity, are extremely well integrated, enjoying efficiencies across the entire gamut of our workings - from the mines in Australia to the production of coke in our plants in India. Naturally, we continue to out perform our own expectations and the results are a mute testimony to these facts."
The company is in the process of increasing its metcoke capacity to 2.5 MTPA by December 2010 which includes the setting up of a Greenfield 1 million tpa plant in Southern India for which the necessary land has already been acquired and initial work has started. The company's mining operations in Australia are doing extremely well with one million tons of premium hard coking coal expected to be shipped to India in the current fiscal. It is also developing its mines in Australia to further increase its production to seven million tons within the next four years.
Gujarat NRE Coke is also in the process of setting up co-generation facilities in all its plants which will provide the company with 60 MW of free power. This power will be in addition to the 87.5 MW of green power it generates from wind mills located in Gujarat.
The future outlook? "From where we stand, the long term outlook is positive" said Mr Jagatramka. The current downturn provides an excellent platform for further growth of the company. The tough indeed gets going, when the going gets tough.