In an interview with domestic media, National Aluminium Company’s Chairman and Managing Director Dr. Tapan Kumar Chand said that his firm expects to achieve the ₹12,000 crore of revenue benchmark in FY 2019, which will help the company start out the following fiscal on a strong footing.
Although prices in the quarter were less than hoped, Chand expects level pegging, if not slightly better.
“As far as the third quarter is concerned, we have the same level of sale in alumina and aluminium as it was last year and this year, in the fourth quarter, we may be doing one shipment more,” he explained. “In case of aluminium, we may sell an extra 20,000-30,000/ton.”
On the subject of production costs, Chand confirmed that Nalco was on pace to bring in coal from the Utkal D mines later this year, lowering power costs by eliminating the need to purchase coal elsewhere.
“In terms of the timeline we are on the right track and we are planning that we should open the coal block by the end of September 2019. In such case, during 2019 itself, we will be getting around 1 million ton coal and next year, it will be 2 million ton of coal. This will do away with the purchase that we are making through e-auction. Since e-auction coal is almost double the price of the FSA coal and so there will be a saving of around ₹2,500-2,600 per ton.”
“That will give us a very good cushion to reduce the prices because coal plays a significant role in the cost structure of aluminium production and we are expecting that maybe our price level of around 20,000 per ton may get reduced with the coal block getting opened,” he continued. “It will make the price quite competitive.”
When asked for a prediction regarding expected results for FY 2019, Chand confirmed that Nalco was on target to show revenue of ₹12,000 crore and a PAT of ₹1,600 crore.
“Yes, we are likely to clock a sales turnover of ₹12,000 crore,” he opined. “Up to the third quarter, we have got net profit of ₹1,499 crore and we are hoping that we will be making around ₹1,650 plus crore profit during the entire year.”
“In 2019-20, next year, we are expecting some incremental growth in our profit projection and turnover because a little more volume will come in terms of aluminium sales. In case of alumina also, we are trying to take it from 21.5 lakh ton to a little more than that.”
“So, some volume impact will be there and we are expecting that with the return of market to its fundamentals, the wait and watch followed by the customers for which the prices are in a downward trend will be over and buying activities will start so that at least some extent of firming of the prices will be there and that level may increase a little,” continued Chand.
However, Chand indicated that other variables may still affect results.
“These two factors will also help from the price point of view,” he concluded. “We have to see what kind of an exchange rate is coming. We are expecting some growth in turnover next year as well.”