Steel and wire rope maker, Usha Martin has announced the results for the three months period ended March 31, 2008.

On the back of higher sales of value-added products, the company has registered a 29% growth in its consolidated profit after tax (PAT), which stood at Rs 50.52 crore during the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2008, as against the corresponding period of the last year.

The performance of the company also got a fillip from advanced production and integration of captive raw material sources.

The company’s net sales boosted 35 percent to Rs 672.50 crore during the same period.

In contrast, the annual consolidated profit after tax (PAT) for 2007-08 was Rs 175.38 crore, whereas the annual net sales stood at Rs 2308.77 crore.

While lecturing at a Press conference, Mr. Rajeev Jhawar, managing director of Usha Martin, stated, “Demand for value-added speciality steel products helped us grow.”

Meanwhile, the firm is also raising speciality steel making capacity to 700,000 tonnes in FY09, and has plans to create 1 million tonnes of the product over the next two years (2010).

Usha Martin shares, on Tuesday (May 13) gained 2.87%, to settle at Rs 95 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).