Shares of Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) rallied as much as 13 per cent to hit an intraday high of ₹ 130.35 after it reported September quarter earnings post market hours on Friday. SAIL’s net profit in second quarter of the current financial year jumped a whopping nearly 10 times to ₹ 4,339 crore from ₹ 436.52 crore in the same period last year. SAIL’s revenue from operations advanced 59 per cent to ₹ 26,828 crore versus ₹ 16,925 crore in the year ago period.
Its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) or operating profit advanced 8.14 per cent to ₹ 7,290 crore from ₹ 6,741 crore.
During the quarter, SAIL’s crude steel production came in at 4,468 million tonnes and saleable steel sales came in at 4,280 million tonnes. The company clocked its best-ever quarterly EBITDA, profit before tax and profit after tax, SAIL said in a press release.
The company’s gross borrowings were reduced by ₹ 12,872 crore to ₹ 22,478 crore in the first half of the financial year, the state-run steel maker added.
SAIL’s board announced an interim dividend of ₹ 4 per share for the current financial year.
SAIL shares have so far this year surged 76 per cent, outperforming the Sensex which has gained 25 per cent.