The Hindu Business Line : Indal Q3 net sales at Rs 398 crore

INDIAN Aluminium Company Ltd (Indal), an Aditya Birla Group company, maintained its growth trend for the nine months period, including the third quarter ended December 2003.

The company's net sales for the third quarter grew by 26 per cent at Rs 398 crore against Rs 315 crore in the corresponding quarter last year, while profit before tax at Rs 38.7 crore went up by 5 per cent (Rs 36.9 crore). Exports jumped by 36 per cent at about Rs 118 crore.

The total operating revenue for the nine months went up by 18 per cent at about Rs 1,169 crore, while PBT improved by 17 per cent at Rs 120.5 crore ( about Rs 103 crore). Net profit was maintained at previous year's level of Rs 84.5 crore. A significantly higher effective tax rate of 24.9 per cent impacted net profit, said an Indal press note. Exports jumped by 15 per cent at about Rs 328 crore compared to about Rs 285 crore for the corresponding nine months period last year.

Though Indal is very strong in semi-fabricated products and alumina, the company's virgin metal production improved significantly at its Hirakud smelter in Orissa with all the additional 54 pots in operation. The pots were shifted from its "defunct " Belgaum smelter in Karnataka. The metal production was highest ever at Hirakud at 49,161 tonnes.

The company's combined alumina production from its Belgaum and Muri refineries crossed 3.72 lakh tonnes, with speciality alumina production up by 18 per cent. Domestic sales surged by 20 per cent on the back of buoyant demand of alumina, while exports at about 1.77 lakh tonnes grew by 9 per cent vis-à-vis about 1.63 lakh tonnes last year, of which export volumes of speciality chemicals rose by 21 with better realisation.

Production of sheet from its two plants at Belur in West Bengal and Taloja in Maharashtra was 18 per cent higher compared to previous year at 58,434 tonnes (49,440 tonnes) because of better asset utilisation and improved plant efficiencies.

The combined foil output from Kalwa and Kollur was lower at 5,816 tonnes (6,935 tonnes) on account of volume loss in main end-user segments. However, high value added converted products, including new products to serve the growing packaging industry, helped improved the average domestic sales realisation to some extent.

Production of extruded items from the Alupuram unit in Kerala was maintained at 6,890 tonnes in spite of higher production cost.