India’s state-owned aluminium firm National Aluminium Company (NALCO) declared a forty percent dividend at the firm’s 35th annual General Meeting in Bhubaneswar. This represent the biggest dividend declared by the firm since its capital restructuring in the spring of 2011.
Managing director Dr. Tapan Kumar Chand congratulated the stakeholders on allocation of Odisha’s Pottangi Bauxite Mines, which he identified as a significant decision upon which the firm’s smooth operations and plans for the future depend. Nalco was earlier allotted Utkal D & E Coal Blocks in Angul, not far from its Smelter and Power Complex.
“These resources would definitely usher in a secured future of the company for more than four decades,” he said. “Moreover, we now received the happy tiding that bridge linkage has been provided from Coal India, for supply of coal to two units of NALCO’s Captive Power Plant.”
Chand said that global aluminium production increased by 6.1% year-on-year, while global consumption grew by 4% over the same period. The People’s Republic of China led the pack in both areas, accounting for 54% of global production and 51% of global consumption.
“Global aluminium prices have displayed considerable volatility throughout 2015-16, with LME cash prices fluctuating between a high of USD 1919 per tonne in May 2015 to a low of USD 1424 per tonne in November 2015. The average LME cash settlement price for 2015-16 was USD 1592 per tonne, registering a fall of almost 16% from 2014-15 average of USD 1889 per tonne,” Dr. Chand told stakeholders.
“Despite severe sluggish market conditions, NALCO achieved a Profit After Tax of Rs.731 crore during the year,” he added.
Highlights for the fiscal year include a ten percent increase to 6.34 million metric tons from Nalco’s bauxite mines in Panchpatmali, a record output of 1.95 million metric tons at the firm’s alumina refinery in Damanjodi, and a fourteen percent increase in the firm’s aluminium smelter at Angul, to 372,000 metric tons.