- Bhubaneswar: The Central-sector National Aluminium Company Limited (Nalco), country’s leading manufacturer and exporter of alumina and aluminium, has reported a net profit of Rs235 crore in the second quarter ending on September 30, 2017, registering a growth of 94% over Rs 121 crore earned in the corresponding period last fiscal. The company’s profit was Rs129 crore in the first quarter of this fiscal.The Nalco board of directors, which met here on Saturday, has taken note of the company’s financial result for second quarter of the financial year 2017-18.The company has achieved a net sales Rs 2420 crore in the Q2 compared to Rs.1695 crore in the corresponding quarter of last year.“The market harvesting in alumina segment and focus on cost reduction have helped us improve our profitability. When the global metal market was in the slump cycle, NALCO maintained its resilience and faced the international downturn with courage by ramping up production. And now, with the shift of the market towards the upbeat cycle, the decision to remain brave and continue the operations with high productivity and investments has paid off well for the company. The recent financial performance of the Navratna PSU is a testimony to this,” said the Nalco CMD Tapan Kumar Chand.The net profit and gross sales turnover for the half year ended September 2017 works out to Rs.364crore and Rs.4179crore, respectively, as against the corresponding figures of Rs.256 crore and Rs.3224 crore achieved during the first six months of the previous financial year.On the production front, Nalco has put up an impressive performance in the 1st half of 2017-18 fiscal. During the period, bauxite mining was at 37.06 lakh tones, while alumina hydrate production was 10.35 lakh tones. During the period, the company produced 2.06 lakh tonnes of aluminium, which is 10.25% higher than the production of the corresponding period of FY 2016-17. NALCO’s net power generation has also gone up by 11.73% at 3290 million units as compared to the corresponding period of the previous fiscal. NALCO also generated 262.90 million units of wind power registering an increase of 28.5% as compared to the corresponding figure of the previous fiscal.Nalco’s alumina hydrate sales, during the 1st half, was up 9.98% at 6.39 lakh tonnes as compared to the first six months of 2016-17. During the period, the company sold 2.02 lakh tonnes of aluminium, which is up 14.19% compared to the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.