JSW Steel today reported an 87 per cent decline in consolidated net profit at Rs 62.38 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2015 due to a fall in revenue.
The company had posted a net profit of Rs 482.83 crore in the year-ago period, it said in a BSE filing.
Net income fell by 12 per cent to Rs 12,599.70 crore in the January-March period of the 2014-15 fiscal from Rs 14,342.41 crore in a year-ago.
The quarterly performance was hit due to fall in revenues from steel, power and other business segments.
During the quarter, JSW reported crude steel production as well as saleable steel sales volume of 3.06 million tonnes.
However for the year ended March 31, JSW Steel reported over three-fold jump in consolidated net profit to Rs 1,796.57 crore from Rs 451.95 crore in the 2013-14.
The company's total income grew by 3.4 per cent to Rs 52,971.51 crore from Rs 51,219.62 crore in the said period.
"The company was able to partly offset the headwind of intensifying price competition from surging imports with product mix enrichment," JSW Steel said.
It said that ramping up of new downstream facilities led to the share of value-added products in overall volumes improving to 33 per cent during 2014-15.
During Q4, the company said that "it entered into an asset transfer agreement with JSW Cement (JSWCL) for sale of all immovable property including, equipment and machinery, which were acquired from Heidelberg Cement India Ltd."
On outlook, JSW Steel said it expects steel production to grow by 6 per cent to 13.40 million tonnes (MT) in 2015-16 from 12.63 MT in 2014-15.
Similarly, saleable steel sales are projected to grow by 7 per cent to 12.90 MT from 12.03 MT during the same period.
Noting that rising steel imports continue to be a concern, JSW said: "Indian steel industry faced headwinds of a 71 per cent year-on-year surge in finished steel imports (especially from China, Korea, Japan and Russia) in 2014-15, when apparent consumption rose only 3.1 per cent y-o-y."
Meanwhile finished steel exports also decreased by 8.1 per cent on yearly basis in the 2014-15 fiscal, it said, adding that restart of closed mines in the 2015-16 fiscal will improve domestic iron ore availability.
In India, overall activity levels show mixed signs, inflation remains modest and there are initial signs of pick up in capital goods and medium and heavy commercial vehicle segment, however, actual uptick in investment cycle is yet to be seen, the firm said.
"At the same time, tighter liquidity conditions, slowing rural demand due to recent unseasonal rains, leveraged corporate balance sheets and below-normal monsoon forecast are key risks," it added.
Shares of JSW Steel fell today by 3.28 per cent to settle at Rs 875.45 a piece at the BSE.
