India Ratings reaffirms rating of SAIL; maintains 'stable' outlook Capital Market • 24 days agoIndia Ratings said that the affirmation reflects SAILs continued strong business profile, sustained revenues and moderate credit metrics in FY23. The credit metrics are likely to be comfortable in FY24 with some improvement on the back of a slight moderation in the debt and a modest improvement in the EBITDA. SAIL has indicated the next round of expansion capex for increasing capacity to 35mmt by FY31 with a total outlay of around Rs 1,000 billion. While the company has a track record of incurring less-than-expected-announced large capex historically, any increase in capex intensity without a commensurate increase in cash flows would adversely affect credit ratios and could be negative for ratings.Steel Authority of India (SAIL) is an integrated iron and steelmaker with five integrated steel plants: Bhilai Steel Plant, Durgapur Steel Plant, Rourkela Steel Plant, Bokaro Steel Plant and IISCO Steel Plant. It also has three special steel plants, alloy steel plants, Salem steel plant and Visvesvaraya iron and steel plant. The company is one of the largest steelmakers in India, with a total crude steel and saleable steel capacity of 19.63 million tonnes per annum and 18.54 million tonnes per annum, respectively, as on 31 March 2023.The company reported 73.59% drop in consolidated net profit to Rs 212.48 crore in the quarter ended June 2023 as against Rs 804.50 crore during the previous quarter ended June 2022. Sales rose 1.38% to Rs 24359.10 crore in Q1 FY24 over Q1 FY23.The scrip shed 0.44% to currently trade at Rs 98.90 on the BSE.