May 23 (Reuters) - India's JSW Steel, the country's top steelmaker, reported a smaller-than-expected rise in fourth-quarter profit on Friday, hurt by weak steel prices.
Its consolidated net profit stood at 15.03 billion rupees ($176 million) for the quarter ended March 31, below analysts' average estimate of 15.66 billion rupees, as per data compiled by LSEG.
The O.P. Jindal Group company logged a one-time charge worth 440 million rupees, related to duty on assets bought by its green steel unit.
Its results come a month after the government imposed a temporary 12% tax on some steel imports, known locally as a safeguard duty, to protect local producers struggling with surging cheap imports from China, Japan and South Korea.
Domestic steel mills have had to scale down operations and consider job cuts due to a surge in these imports.
As a result, JSW Steel's total revenue from operations declined 3% to 448.19 billion rupees, missing analysts' average estimates of 449.38 billion rupees, according to data compiled by LSEG.
Earlier this month, India's top court quashed JSW Steel's resolution plan to acquire Bhushan Power and Steel four years after the takeover was completed, and ordered the liquidation of the debt-ridden firm.
JSW Steel, which said it sees no impact from the order, said on Friday that "no provision is required to be made for the net assets included in the consolidated financial results".
Additionally, the company approved the issuance of equity shares or any convertible securities worth up to 70 billion rupees, and another 70 billion rupees via the issue of non-convertible debentures (NCDs).
($1 = 85.2420 Indian rupees)
Reporting by Anuran Sadhu and Manvi Pant in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman and Eileen Soreng
Source: Reuters