Ranchi, March 17: After suffering losses for more than five years, the city-based Mecon Limited is expected to earn a profit of around Rs 20 crore in the current fiscal year.

Sources said for the past five years the company had been incurring losses due to recession in the steel sector.

The official announcement of the profit and the performance of the company in 2004-05 will be made on April 1, 2005, sources said.

Besides, the surge in the steel sector, cost saving measures, including restructuring of outstation offices, implementation of voluntary retirement schemes, and re-allocation of existing manpower, have helped the company. These measures were adopted following recommendations of PricewaterhouseCoopers, sources said.

The news of the profit has given a boost the employees as the company had been put on the disinvestment list.

Instead of disinvestment, this profit-making consultants should be merged with SAIL , the sources said.

The Mecon Executives Association, too, recently demanded that with the revival of steel sector, the future of Mecon will get better, hence it deserves to be merged with SAIL. Mecon was established in 1973 as a subsidiary of Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL). In 1978 it was made an independent unit.

The last time Mecon had earned a profit was in 1998-99.