National Aluminium Forecasts 9.5% Gain in Fiscal 2012 Profit

(Bloomberg)--National Aluminium Co., India’s second-biggest producer, forecast a 9.5 percent gain in profit for the next fiscal year as prices of the lightweight metal used to make aircraft and beverage cans increase.

Net income will probably rise to 11 billion rupees ($244 million) in the year to March 31, 2012 from an estimated 10.5 billion rupees in the year ending this month, the company said today in a letter to shareholders. Sales may climb 12 percent to 64.95 billion rupees.

Aluminum last week advanced to the highest price since September 2008 on the London Metal Exchange. The metal may climb as high as $2,800 a metric ton as a shortfall drains Shanghai Futures Exchange stockpiles, Macquarie Bank Ltd. said in a report dated yesterday, implying an 8 percent gain from current levels.

Chinese usage probably will run at an annual rate of more than 17 million tons in the first half’s later months, against an equivalent pace for local production of about 16.5 million tons as of 2010’s third quarter, Macquarie Bank said.

National Aluminium’s profit may climb to 12.5 billion rupees on sales of 69.4 billion rupees in the financial year ending March 31, 2013, the company said. The forecasts are based on price assumptions of $2,300 a ton for fiscal 2012 and $2,400 for fiscal 2013, the company said.

National Aluminium’s shares have advanced 15 percent this year, the best performers on the Bombay Stock Exchange’s index of 34 state-owned companies. The stock gained 0.6 percent to close at 452.40 rupees in Mumbai today, the highest level in almost 14 months. The company last week announced a stock split and the issue of free shares to enhance liquidity.