SAIL Q4 net up 3% to Rs 1,577 cr

Beating market expectations, state-owned SAIL on Tuesday reported a growth of 3 per cent in its standalone net profit to Rs 1,576.98 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2012, largely due to higher saleable steel volumes.

Analysts were expecting a fall of 16 to 30 per cent in Steel Authority of India's (SAIL) standalone net profit due to increase in input costs.

The largest domestic steelmaker had reported a net profit of Rs 1,530.61 crore in the corresponding quarter of 2010-11.

Net sales of the company was up 12.17 per cent to Rs 15,079 crore during the reported quarter as compared to Rs 13,339 crore of during the same period last fiscal, it said in a filing to the BSE.

Total expenditure of largest domestic steel maker was up 19.86 per cent to Rs 12,209.79 crore during the January-March quarter. Raw material costs alone accounted for over 51 per cent of the expenditure at Rs 6,231.94 crore during the quarter, it said.

In a separate statement, the company said that for the first time in its history, it achieved gross sales turnover of over Rs 50,000 crore during the last fiscal due to good performance during the January-March quarter.

The company reported a standalone gross sales turnover of Rs 50,348 crore in FY12, up 7 per cent over the previous year's Rs 47,041 crore.