Bharat Coking Coal is optimistic about the company's outlook for FY27, even as the mining company reported a sharp decline in its fourth quarter earnings, with net profit plunging 59% and Ebitda slipping into the red.
Speaking to NDTV Profit, Chairman and Managing Director Manoj Kumar Agarwal said both he expects both realisations and volumes to increase by 10-15% this year, thanks to sustained steel demand.
"Expect demand for steel to continue rising," he said, adding that the company is targeting production of 39 million tonnes of coal stock in the current fiscal year.
Agarwal expects volumes to increase on a 10% year-on-year for Q1FY27, which suggests potential recovery from the weakness seen in the March quarter. He also flagged that the cess imposed in Jharkhand will be a key variable in determining any future price hike decisions.
BCCL, therefore, is carefully watching the state-level fiscal environment before passing on costs.
Agarwal also noted that most of BCCL's coal stock is used in thermal power generation, which is important given India's ongoing push to ramp up electricity production amid rising energy demand.
This comes on the back of BCCL's Q4 earnings, which saw revenue falling 15.1% year-on-year to Rs 3,283 crore from Rs 3,866 crore, while net profit declined sharply to Rs 27.3 crore from Rs 66.5 crore in the year-ago period. Ebitda swung to a loss of Rs 335 crore compared to a profit of Rs 61.9 crore a year earlier.
Separately, the company's board announced a revision of Washed Coking Coal prices in line with its MoU with SAIL, setting the basic price at Rs 13,403 per metric tonne for Washed Prime Coking Coal and Rs 10,937 per metric tonne for Washed Medium Coking Coal.
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