Indal, which became a Hindalco subsidiary from June 27 this year, said net sales increased by 25 per cent and exports by 69 per cent in the three months to June 30, 2000. According to the unaudited financial results for the quarter, net sales hit Rs 274 crore against Rs 218.6 crore in the first quarter of the last fiscal.

Net profit for the latest quarter was Rs 25.6 crore against Rs 17.5 crore earlier. Both the figures are all-time highs. In exports also, Indal reported its best-ever performance. It said exports shot up to Rs 82.2 crore in the first quarter, against Rs 48.5 crore in the same period last year.Hindalco acquired a majority stake of 54.62 per cent in Indal from Alcan Aluminium Ltd of Canada and another 20 per cent through an open offer. It now holds a 74.62 per cent stake in Indal.

"Although first quarter trend is not the determining one, it can be said that the company will do very well in the current fiscal provided the present positive trend in alumina prices persists," said its vice-chairman Askaran Agarwala. Alumina prices rose sharply in the last quarter following a shortage in international market, while metal prices moved downwards from $1750 per tonne to stabilise at around $1500 per tonne.

In a statement at Indal's 62nd annual general meeting held today here, its new chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla pointed out a number of internal factors had contributed to this upward trend in Indal's performance.

First, the upstream units of alumina, viz., Belgaum in Karnataka and Muri in Bihar achieved a total production of 107,650 tonne, a rise of six per cent over the 101,700 tonne produced in the first quarter of the previous year.

Second, Indal's smelters at Hirakud in Orissa and Alupuram in Kerala operated at full capacity, recording a metal production of 10,888 tonne, which is by and large the same as that achieved in the corresponding quarter of last year. The captive power plant at Hirakud operated at an average plant load factor of about 93 per cent. Third, the recently upgraded aluminium sheet mill at Belur in West Bengal produced 9,480 tonne as against 6,381 tonne in first quarter of the previous fiscal, a growth of about 50 per cent. Fourth, in foil and packaging, it produced 1,713 tonne of foils as against 1,525 tonne in the comparable quarter of the previous fiscal.