TISCO Q3 net down by 12.65%

TISCO Q3 net down by 12.65%
ENS ECONOMIC BUREAU

MUMBAI, JAN 16: Tata Iron and Steel Company (TISCO) has posted a net profit of Rs 127.6 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2000 as against Rs 146.1 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 1999. Net Sales for the third quarter 2000 stood at Rs 1639.8 crore as compared to Rs 1501.7 crore in December 1999 quarter.

Other income increased to Rs 3.620 crore in the quarter ended December 31, 2000 from Rs 2.230 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year. For the nine months through December, net profit rose 30 per cent to Rs 344 crore as net sales rose 11.8 percent to Rs 5406 crore.

In December 2000, the company has announced its intention to acquire 1,74,62,902 fully paid-up equity shares of Rs 10 each at Rs 27 per share and 46,130 partly paid up equity shares of face value of Rs 10 each at Rs.2 per share of Tata SSL Limited at an aggregate cost of upto Rs 47.160 crore.

A Reuters brokerage poll had forecast profit to fall 4.8 per cent to Rs 139 crore and sales to rise 6.9 per cent to Rs 1817 crore.

TISCO's earnings in the year-ago quarter was boosted by an extraordinary profit of Rs 125 crore on the sale of its cement division. There was no such exceptional income in the latest quarter. TISCO shares closed Tuesday 0.8 per cent down at Rs 131.95, while the benchmark Bombay index closed 0.59 per cent up.

"We had expected the best TISCO results in a long while in light of the cost-cutting the company has been talking about. But its impact on the profit has not been as high as expected," said an analyst. But another analyst at Inquire Indian Equity Research said costs were under control and increases in interest payments and depreciation in the quarter were due to a cold-roll steel mill going on stream.

Analysts said the results were actually in line with his expectations, and lauded TISCO for raising the value of its product offerings. This enhanced product mix "should lead profitability in thenext two or three quarters in an environment of tight realisations," they said.

Production in the October-December quarter totaled 838,376 tonnes, up 6.8 percent from 784,900 tonnes in the year-ago period. Sales rose 3.65 per cent to 808,432 tonnes from 779,861 tonnes, the company said in a statement.