Srikalahasthi Pipes Ltd posted a profit of Rs 40.10 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2016, as against Rs 41.01 crore for the corresponding quarter last year.

The company’s gross sales for the third quarter was up at Rs 297.63 crore as against Rs 286.46 crore for the corresponding period last year.

The profit for the nine months ended December 2016 was Rs 109 crore as against Rs 110 crore for the corresponding previous nine months ended December 2015. The gross income for nine months was down at Rs 764 crore as against Rs 856 crore for the same period last year.

G. S. Rathi, whole-time Director, said during the quarter, the production of ductile iron pipes got stabilised after a shut-down and a pulverised coal injection system was commissioned in January 2017.

In order to be fully self-sufficient in meeting its requirements of coke and power, as approved by the board earlier, the company has taken up installation of an additional coke oven battery and increased the power plant capacity to 16 MW at a cost of Rs 65 crore. This is expected to be commissioned by March 2018.

Rathi said to mitigate an increase in the prices of coking coal, the company has been pursuing various cost control measures, increasing operational efficiencies and marketing initiatives to maintain the bottom line.

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