JSW Steel Q3 net profit jumps nearly 63%, revenue soars 74%

Billionaire Sajjan Jindal-led JSW Steel Ltd on Friday reported 63% jump in consolidated net profit for the quarter ended December 2021, helped by a sharp increase in sales.

Consolidated net profit for the third quarter jumped to Rs 4,357 crore from Rs 2,681 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. However, this was lower than the profit of Rs 7,170 crore in the preceding quarter.

Consolidated revenue during the September-December period rose 74% to Rs 38,071 crore from Rs 21,859 crore a year earlier. This is also higher than the preceding quarter’s sales of Rs 32,503 crore.

The steelmaker said performance was boosted by improvement in price realisation as compared with the year-ago quarter. On a sequential basis, however, higher input costs and slower price increases impacted its margins.

The company attributed the sequential decline profit to rising costs of coking coal and power. It did, however, say that the price rise was mitigated by softening domestic prices of iron ore. 

Other Key Highlights

1) Standalone net profit at Rs 3,424 crore for the third quarter, up 62% from Rs 2,681 crore a year earlier. 

2) Standalone profit for Q3 falls 36% from the second quarter, when JSW recorded a one-time gain of Rs 702 crore.

3) Standalone operating EBITDA came in at Rs 6,797 crore, lower by 22% on a quarter-on-quarter basis. 

4) Standalone crude steel production was up 8% quarter-on-quarter to 4.41 million tonnes.

5) Sales of saleable steel were 4 million tonnes, higher by 6%. This was led by a 29% increase in domestic sales.

6) Exports during the quarter halved to 15% of total sales as against 30% of sales in the July-September quarter.

Management commentary

JSW Steel said that it had contested the iron ore selling price set by the Indian Bureau of Mines before the Orissa High Court, as it did not believe that they were in line with the prescribed regulations. 

The company further said that high frequency economic indicators suggest that the economy is back to pre-pandemic levels and that the third of Covid-19 wave is less severe. Therefore, it feels that industrial activity remains robust and government spending and global demand will help the economy bounce back.