NALCO profit down by 30 %

OST Business Bureau

Bhubaneswar, Sep 28: Public sector aluminium major National Aluminum Company Ltd (Nalco) has posted a net profit of Rs 593 crore which is down by over 30 per cent from the last fiscal despite the growth in sales from Rs 6,500 crore to Rs 6,809 crore.

The directors of the company have recommended a dividend of 25 per cent, which is higher than the 20 per cent in the last fiscal.

Addressing the 32nd Annual General Meeting of the company here on Friday, CMD Ansuman Das attributed the drop in the profit to higher input costs and a volatile market.

While Nalco produced higher record amount of alumina hydrate, it decided to produce less amount of aluminum from its smelter at Angul due to weak market conditions, Das said.

However, the company has a net worth of Rs 11,933 crore as of March, 2013 and has no debt in the balance sheet with a cash reserve of about Rs 4,957 crore which shows that it has a sound financial position to raise resources to finance its ambitious growth projects on hand.

Briefing newsmen after the meeting, Das said while upgradation of the 4th stream of alumina refinery is underway, the 5th stream is on the drawing board which will take place subject to the award of Pottangi mines. He also said that the Utkal E coal block has come closer to getting into production which is expected in December 2014.

He also made it clear that Nalco is committed to the second smelter and CPP at Sundargarh.

“The company is planning a caustic soda plant and has signed an MoU with the Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd to set up a plant for manufacture of aluminium and aluminium alloy electrical conductors near the smelter plant at Angul with joint venture”, the CMD said.

He, however, said while the nuclear power plant project at Kakrapar in Gujarat is on and more wind power units are in the pipeline, the railway wagon venture with BEML is missing from the list of the future projects this year.

Besides, Nalco has adopted an Integrity Pact from September 15 last year with threshold value of Rs 50 crore in compliance to the recommendation of the Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC). It has also released its first Sustainable Development Report (SDR) during the current fiscal, he added.

Referring to the CSR activities of the company, Das said the Nalco Foundation has adopted project-based approach with a focus on development of villages located within 15 km radius of the Nalco’s production facilities.
“The company has been operating six mobile health units in the periphery villages of its Angul complexes and mines and refinery complex at Damanjodi”, the CMD informed. (MM)