Vedanta's March quarter profit down y-o-y by 27%

26 Apr 2024 , 01:57 PM

Vedanta’s March quarter profit came down y-o-y by 27%. It posted profit of ₹1,881 Crore in the March 2024 quarter.  In the quarter that ended on March 31st, 2023, it had posted a profit of Rs 1,369 crore. In the December quarter, it declared a profit of ₹2,013 Crore.

In the March quarter, operating revenue decreased by 6% to ₹34,937 Crore. Revenue didn’t really change sequentially.

According to the firm, India’s long- and short-term demand is still strong. In an investor presentation, Vedanta stated that “demand is expected to remain strong in upcoming years due to thriving infrastructure, manufacturing, automobile, and EV/renewable sectors.”

Comparing the quarter to the previous year, consolidated EBITDA decreased 4% to ₹8,969 Crore.

According to chairman Anil Aggarwal’s letter to stakeholders last week, the mining conglomerate anticipates the demerger of five of its major businesses—aluminum, oil and gas, steel, and aluminum—into distinct listed firms to be completed by December 2024.

As of March 31, Vedanta’s net debt was ₹56,338 Crore, down ₹6,155 Crore from the previous three months. Additionally, the company said that as of December 31, its net debt to EBITDA ratio had improved to approximately 1.5 from roughly 1.7 times.

The business reported ₹9,948 Crore in free cash flow (pre-capex) as it made plans to boost cash flows and implement deleveraging methods to strengthen the balance sheet of the heavily indebted conglomerate. In a letter to stakeholders, Chairman Anil Aggarwal declared that FY25 will be a “transformative year” for the mining business.

A one-time loss of ₹201 Crore was recorded in the March quarter as a result of the firm recording an impairment charge of ₹994 Crore, mostly at Tuticorin.

Cash and cash equivalents totaled ₹15,421 Crore as of March 31. For FY25, the company projects capital expenditures of $1.9 billion, with the largest commitment of ₹$800 million going into power and artificial intelligence.

Vedanta’s aluminum division saw an 18% increase in volume at the Lanjigarh facility in the March quarter compared to the same period last year. With Vedanta increasing its refining capacity to 3.5 mtpa, the unit has come into focus.

The company reported that it produced 273 kt of refined metal, its highest-ever quarterly output. This was up 1% from the previous year and 6% from the December quarter due to improved plant availability. Due to lower grades and recoveries, Zinc International’s overall production decreased by 47% in the fourth quarter.

In the meantime, average gross operational production fell by 14% to 117.8 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day in the March quarter compared to the same period last year, according to Vedanta’s oil and gas unit.

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