Bhubaneswar

BALASORE Alloys Ltd (BAL), a leading ferro chrome producer and part of the Mittal group, has turned around by declaring a net profit of Rs 24.63 crore in 2006-07.

Interestingly, the company was referred to BIFR in 2002, but in less than four years, it has been able to come out of the red and is now on an expansion mode . “We are planning to set up a power plant, new furnaces and upgrade existing furnaces. We will try to fund the expansion project through internal accruals, promoter’s contribution and debt restructuring,” BAL joint MD RK Jena told ET.

The company reported an impressive growth of 109% in operating profits at Rs.8.03 crore for the quarter ended March 31 compared to Rs.3.85 crore in the corresponding period the previous year.

Net profit witnessed and unprecedented surge of over 302% at Rs.2.46 Crore in the first quarter ended March 31 compared to Rs.61.20 Lakh in the same period last year. EPA jumped by 207% at Rs.0.43 per share for the quarter ended March 31 compared to Rs.0.14 per share for the corresponding period in the previous year (Re 5.16 per share on and annualised basis) .

Mr. Jena has attributed the impressive Q1 results to improved all-round efficiencies, triggered by high export earnings, higher productivity and cost efficiencies achieved through internal efforts.

The company has been focusing on increased exports and penetration of the world ferro chrome market. The relentless pursuit of excellence demonstrated through various strategic management initiatives has started yielding desired result.

Interestingly, the company is the first ferro chrome producer in India to have received the TPM Excellence award (First category ) from Japan Institute of plant maintenance. It has also bagged the prestigious productivity award and Total Quality Award for 2006-07 from CII (Eastern region ) .

Balasore Alloys is also actively pursuing with activity based cost management (ABCM) , Total Quality Management (TQM) , Performance Management System (PMS) and just in time (JIT) in order to maximise performance efficiency.

These initiatives apart judicious selection of technology and equipment, continuous training, retraining and reskilling of human resources, improving product and market mix have enhanced the company’s global competitiveness, which sill eventually help it add considerable share holder value giving a leadership position in the market.

After the proposed expansion the production capacity will double to 14,000 tonne per month. By the end of the year the company will be able to enhance its production capacity from 85,000 tonne to one lakh tonne.