Coal India (COALINDIA) Q4 02/03 earnings summary

Executive summary

• Record raw coal output of 290.69 Mt, dispatch of 289.22 Mt and aggregate sales of ₹24,228.07 crore; consolidated pre-tax profit reached a record ₹2,865.50 crore.

• Capacity utilization improved to 95.07% from 92.97%; output per person per shift rose 9% to 2.67 tonnes.

• Growth was supported by improved output and productivity, while financial stress at ECL and BCCL, receivables and operational bottlenecks remained material challenges.

Financial highlights

• Consolidated gross sales were ₹24,228.07 crore versus ₹22,745.75 crore; net sales were ₹20,277.36 crore versus ₹19,240.10 crore.

• Consolidated pre-tax profit was ₹2,865.50 crore versus ₹1,754.56 crore; profit after tax was ₹1,453.30 crore versus ₹519.02 crore.

• Gross profit rose to ₹3,266.07 crore from ₹2,343.33 crore; gross margin increased to 24.35% of net sales from 20.07%.

• Coal dispatch reached a record 289.22 Mt, up 2.4% YoY; actual dispatch was 100.99% of the 286.40 Mt target.

Outlook and guidance

• Tenth Plan projections targeted 350 Mt of output by 2006-07 against projected national coal demand of 460.50 Mt; 72 projects were planned to support the target.

• The 72-project plan was expected to add about 57 Mt of capacity; estimated investment need for the Plan period was ₹14,310 crore.

• Magadh and Amrapali projects, each planned at 12 Mt, were submitted for government approval and intended to supply NTPC’s proposed 2,000 MW plants at Bाढ़ and North Karanpura.