BLBG:National Aluminium Profit Falls More Than Expected on Prices
National Aluminium Co. (NACL), India’s biggest state-owned producer, posted a more-than-expected 80 percent decline in third-quarter profit as prices of the metal fell and energy costs surged.
Net income fell to 512.2 million rupees ($10.4 million), or 0.2 rupee a share, in the three months ended Dec. 31 from 2.56 billion rupees, or 0.99 rupee, a year earlier, the company said today in an exchange filing. The median profit estimate of 16 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg was 1.51 billion rupees. Sales were almost unchanged at 14.3 billion rupees.
The company said in September it would increase imports of coal, used to produce electricity, after a local shortage of the fuel. Prices of aluminum, which is used to make products ranging from beverage cans to aircraft, averaged 11 percent lower in the quarter on the London Metal Exchange.
Expenses rose 30 percent to 15.1 billion rupees, including a 75 percent increase in raw material costs to 3.65 billion rupees, according to the filing.
National Aluminium shares fell 3 percent to 61.85 rupees at the close of trade in Mumbai. The stock has declined 41 percent in the past year.
Coal prices rose 8 percent to an average $114.5 a metric ton in the quarter from a year earlier, according to researcher McCloskey Group Ltd.
To contact the reporter on this story: Abhishek Shanker in Mumbai at ashanker1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Rebecca Keenan at rkeenan5@bloomberg.net
