Sarda Energy and Minerals witnessed a remarkable surge of 14% in its stock price, reaching Rs 223.5 per share on 22 March, Friday, during intraday trading on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). This surge followed the announcement that their subsidiary joint venture had received a Letter of Intent for a Composite License from the Maharashtra state government. The subsidiary, Natural Resources Energy Pvt. Ltd. (NREPL), was granted the Letter of Intent for the Surjagad 1 Iron Ore Block in Maharashtra, covering an area of 1,526 hectares. Sarda Energy and Minerals holds a 51% economic interest in this joint venture, as disclosed in an official filing. At 10:55 AM, the flagship company of the Sarga Group witnessed a 13% rise in its shares, outperforming the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex which rose by only 0.19%. Sarda Energy & Minerals is known for its vertically integrated steel production, coupled with captive iron ore resources. Additionally, the company manufactures and exports specialized manganese-based ferroalloys and benefits from self-sufficient captive power generation from waste heat and coal. In its recent financial performance for the October-December quarter, Sarda Energy reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 11.716 billion, a decrease from Rs 1.3036 billion in the same quarter of the previous fiscal year (Q3FY23) and Rs 1.4065 billion in the preceding quarter (Q2FY24). The revenue from operations stood at Rs 9.254 billion, a slight increase from Rs 9.08 billion year-on-year but a decrease from Rs 10.0036 billion quarter-on-quarter. Among its various segments, steel experienced the most significant decline in revenue, dropping to Rs 5.10 billion from Rs 5.65 billion year-on-year. This was followed by a decrease in the Power segment's revenue to Rs 2.12 billion from Rs 2.287 billion year-on-year. However, revenue from ferroalloys saw an increase, rising to Rs 3.63 billion from Rs 2.916 billion year-on-year. Over the past month, Sarda Energy's shares faced a decline of approximately 12%, in contrast to the 0.07% dip in the benchmark Sensex index. The stock achieved a 52-week high of Rs 264.95 on 15 December 2023 and a low of Rs 96.7 on 28 March 2023. In January, Sarda Energy awarded a contract worth Rs 150 crore to Gensol Engineering Ltd for the installation of a 50MW DC solar power plant in Chhattisgarh. The contract includes various activities such as design engineering, procurement, construction, and commissioning of the solar power plant, with an expected completion timeframe of 6-9 months from the signing of the letter of intent.