Jindal Steel and Power Ltd is scouting for partners overseas to make a foray into coal bed methane (CBM) exploration, said Ravi Uppal, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Rs 30,737-crore Group.
The company, primarily into steel manufacturing and power generation, will be looking into CBM opportunities both in India and overseas.
JSPL had initiated talks with Y.K. Modi-promoted Great Eastern Energy Corporation Ltd. However, the talks did not sail through.
Great Eastern Energy is the first explorer in the country to commercially exploit CBM.
Talking about the core business, Sushil Maroo, Deputy Managing Director and Board Member of JSPL, said that going forward, power off take should improve and demand for steel and interest rates would come down.
The company’s power plant reported 99.5 per cent pant load factor in the fourth quarter.
“We sold power at Rs 3.17 per KwH in the fourth quarter up from Rs 2.98 each KwH in the previous quarter. But, we are able to generate power but not able to transmit it. We hope that these problems would be solved,” Maroo added.
The company expects its international mining businesses at Mozambique to push its bottom line.
“We have invested more than $1 billion overseas. The Mozambique mine is operational now. We are able to produce coking coal and bring to India,” said Maroo.
He added that the first consignment of 50,000 tonnes is expected to be imported in the first quarter of 2013-14.
Q4 performance
JSPL has reported a 35 per cent drop in its consolidated fourth quarter net profit.
The company has announced a final dividend of 160 per cent or Rs 1.60 for each share of Re 1 for 2012-13.
“The results are down because of challenging environment. “We hope that steel prices would go up and that will help us to improve our bottom line,” said Maroo.
JSPL stock closed at Rs 314.70 a share, down 4.29 per cent on the BSE on Friday.