BHUBANESWAR: A sharp recovery in steel prices and increased iron ore shipments helped the world’s largest steelmaker, ArcelorMittal, deliver better-than-expected firstquarter earnings on Friday. Net income of the steel giant rose 19 per cent jump to $1.19 billion for the March quarter as compared to $1 billion in the year-ago period.
Sales increased 19.27 per cent to $19.18 billion during the quarter under review from $16.08 billion in the corresponding period last year. The firm also saw its net debt decrease to $11.1 billion as compared to $12.1 billion a year ago. The net debt included a working capital investment of $1.9 billion, share buyback $0.2 billion and forex $0.2 billion. “Improvement in global steel market dynamics has continued into 2018, supporting an encouraging financial performance in the first quarter,” chief executive Lakshmi Mittal said.
The outlook for 2018 has strengthened as the year has progressed, with the combination of growing demand and supply-side reform driving higher capacity utilisation rates and healthy steel spreads globally. “Our acquisition of Ilva has received competition clearance from the European Commission. We expect to complete this acquisition by end of the second quarter,” he said. Meanwhile, ArcelorMittal is also trying to gain a firm foothold in India and has bid for debt-laden Essar Steel, which is currently undergoing insolvency proceedings. NCLAT is set to hear petitions from Numetal and ArcelorMittal on May 17.
Mphasis sees 29% surge in Q4 profit
IT firm Mphasis on Friday posted a 29.1 per cent jump in its consolidated profit after exceptional items at Rs 237.7 crore in the March quarter of FY18. The company posted a profit of Rs 184.1 crore in the same period a year ago. The company’s gross revenue increased by 15.6 per cent to Rs 1,703.3 crore in the January- March 2018 period compared to Rs 1,473.2 crore in the corresponding quarter FY17. For the March quarter, its net profit rose by 5.8 per cent to Rs 837.5 crore from Rs 791.6 crore it posted at the end of FY17.
Spicejet logs in 11% growth in net at Rs 46 crore
An industry leading 95.4 per cent occupancy helped Spicejet to report an 11 per cent jump in net profit at Rs 46.1 crore for the three months to March, making it the 13th consecutive profitable quarter for the carrier. For the full year to March, the second largest no-frills airline reported a 32 per cent growth in profit at Rs 566.7 crore — the highest annual profit in its 13-year history and the third profitable full year in a row. In FY17 it had reported Rs 430.7 crore net income.
Dena Bank net loss widens at Rs 1,225 crore
State-owned Dena Bank on Friday reported widening of its net loss to Rs 1,225.42 crore in the March quarter on mounting bad loans and higher provisioning to cover them. The net loss was Rs 575.26 crore in the January-March quarter of 2016-17. Sequentially, the loss widened from Rs 380.07 crore in December of 2017-18. The bank reported loss on annual basis as well, the third year in a row due to ballooning non-performing assets. For the entire fiscal 2017-18, the bank has posted a net loss of Rs 1,923.15 crore. In 2016-17, its net loss stood at Rs 863.63 crore.