Metals and mining conglomerate on Thursday reported its highest-ever operating profit for the fiscal first quarter despite input cost pressures pinching margins.
The company reported consolidated revenues of Rs 38,569 crore for the quarter, up 37% year-on-year.
The consolidated profit grew by 6% year-on-year to Rs 5,592 crore.
The stock of
Ltd closed 0.8% higher on the BSE on Thursday at Rs 245.5. Benchmark Sensex ended the day higher by 1.87%.
“It was a good quarter for us. We did well despite the headwinds from various reasons globally,” Sunil Duggal, the chief executive of Vedanta, told ET. “The volumes in most of
our operations went up.”
The impact of input cost headwinds was particularly hard on the company’s aluminium business, where EBITDA narrowed by 40% to Rs 2,251 crore.
“That is where the strength of Vedanta’s portfolio comes into play. Despite the EBITDA in aluminium coming down both y-o-y and q-o-q, if you see our overall EBITDA it is the
highest for Q1,” said Ajay Goel, the chief financial officer of the company.
While the aluminium business took a beating during the quarter, the zinc, lead and silver business under subsidiary
and the oil and gas business under Cairn reported 49% and 96% growth in EBITDA, respectively.
During the quarter, the company’s net debt increased by Rs 5,820 crore to Rs 26,799 crore.
The company also started production at its nickel-cobalt plant in Goa and at its iron ore mine in Liberia during the quarter.
Vedanta maintained its capital expenditure guidance for the ongoing fiscal year at $2 billion (Rs 15,900 crore approx.). The funds will primarily go towards capacity expansion, aiding its consolidated top line.
“We will go full hog on our declared capex plans,” Duggal said. “This will help us grow volumes through de-bottlenecking efforts and also make our operations more integrated and cost more predictable.”
The company put its shuttered Sterlite Copper plant at Thoothukodi on the block during the quarter. Duggal said that the company received a “very good response from across the country.” However, the company was still hopeful of the plant getting a judicial nod to resume operations. The company’s priority remains to restart the plant over selling it off, Duggal said.
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