JSW Steel Q3 Results: Profit Rises Fivefold, Beats Estimates

JSW Steel Ltd.'s net profit for the third quarter of fiscal 2024 rose fivefold on the back of higher operating margin.

The net profit of the Sajjan Jindal-led steel producer rose 417% to Rs 2,450 crore in the quarter ended December 2023, according to its exchange filing on Thursday. This compares with the Rs 2,170.4-crore consensus estimate of analysts tracked by Bloomberg.

• Revenue from operations rose 7.2% to Rs 41,940 crore (Bloomberg estimate: Rs 42,774.5 crore).

• Ebitda rose 57.9% to Rs 7,180 crore (Bloomberg estimate: Rs 6,724 crore).

• Ebitda margin expanded 550 bps to 17.11% vs 11.61%.

• Net profit up 417% at Rs 2,450 crore (Bloomberg estimate: Rs 2,170.4 crore).

Consolidated crude steel production gained 12% year-on-year and 8% quarter-on-quarter to 6.87 million tonne. The performance was driven by higher capacity utilisation at 94%, as compared with 89% in the previous quarter at the Indian operations, the company said.

Capacity utilisation for the first nine months of the fiscal was 91%. In the previous quarter, the company undertook a maintenance shutdown at some of its plants. Capacity utilisation also improved at the company's Ohio operations in the U.S., supported by a better demand scenario.

Steel sales rose 7% YoY, but dropped 5% QoQ to 6 MT. Domestic sales stood at 5.27 MT, down 4% QoQ and up 2% YoY.

While volume dropped sequentially, it rose for original equipment manufacturers and industrials by 8% and 12% YoY, respectively. The highest quarterly sales were to the OEM and industrial customers, automotive, renewables and packaging segments, the company said.

Retail sales were particularly impacted during the quarter on higher import and channel destocking. Exports at 0.55 MT fell 20% QoQ on subdued global markets and constituted 9% of sales from the Indian operations, the company said.

Shares of JSW Steel closed 0.49% up at Rs 816.45 apiece on the BSE, as compared with a 0.51% decline in the benchmark Sensex.