Leading metals and alloys producer Indian Metals & Ferro Alloys Ltd (IMFA) bore the brunt of tepid Ferro Chrome prices. IMFA’s net profit in the December quarter of this fiscal plummeted to Rs 34.68 crore compared with Rs 74.74 crore in the year-ago period, a fall of 53 percent.
The downtrend was noticed in gross turnover and exports too. Revenue declined from Rs 483.65 crore to Rs 392.42 crore while exports dipped from Rs 406.64 crore to Rs 348.95 crore.
IMFA attributed the depressing numbers to the market downturn and contracted production.
Commenting on the performance, Subhrakant Panda, managing director & CEO of IMFA said, “The quarterly numbers are muted on account of lower production due to scheduled maintenance and lower Ferro Chrome prices on account of ongoing uncertainty due to various global factors. However, a base has been created and we expect prices to bottom out during the ongoing quarter while demand continues to be stable”.
In the December quarter, IMFA’s Ferro Chrome output was marginally down from 63194 tonnes to 60503 tonnes. Sales contracted nearly 10 percent from 61041 tonnes to 52.944 tonnes in the period under review. Power generation though showed a contrarian trend, rising from 205 million units (MU) to 236 MU.
In the April-December period too, IMFA’s net profit nosedived by more than half to Rs 84.91 crore from Rs 182.03 crore. Exports in value terms, too, tumbled from Rs 1128.43 crore to Rs 1074.90 crore whilst revenue was down from Rs 1325.99 crore to Rs 1199.72 crore in the same period.
Listed on both BSE and NSE, IMFA is India’s leading fully integrated producer of value-added Ferro Chrome with a capacity of 275,000 tonnes per annum. The company has manufacturing complexes in Therubali and Choudwar backed up by captive power generation of 262.5 MW and captive chrome ore mines in Sukinda and Mahagiri.
Leave a Reply