Aditya BIrla’s flagship HIndalco Industries net profit dropped by Rs 144 crore to Rs 359 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, 2012.
Total revenues for the company stood at Rs 6,164 crore as against Rs 6,272 crore for the same quarter last year. Pure earnings or EBITDA were Rs 515 crore crore versus Rs 660 crore last year. The company said that sequentially its performance has improved. It said, “This has been driven by better realisation and higher volumes. That despite the continuing increase in input costs, Hindalco has put in a robust performance, is indeed commendable. The successful ramp-up of its smelter post the shutdown in Q1FY13 at its Copper Plant also bolstered the results.”
The finance cost for the second quarter ended September 30, too, dropped to Rs 28 crore from Rs 68 crore because of the repayment of a loan carrying higher interest rate, the company said.
Hindalco cautioned about the future profitability and said, “The general slowdown coupled with the stubbornly high cost of inputs may impact the business results of the Company in the near future.”
Debu Bhattacharya, managing director, Hindalco said that the input costs in coal, caustic and furnace oil went up by 10 per cent, 30 per cent and 15 per cent, respectively in the quarter. He said, “Year-on-year cost pressures impact of Rs 150 crore was seen in the second quarter.”
On a sequential basis, the copper business performed better than its aluminium business. The earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) in the copper business zoomed by 175 per cent to Rs 209 crore as against Rs 76 crore in the first quarter of the current fiscal.
The company said, “Superior performance in the Copper Business during this quarter more than offset the headwinds faced by the Aluminium Business, leading to a better overall operational performance.”
Out of the total revenues of Rs 6,164 crore, aluminium contributed to Rs 2,105 crore. Its aluminium sales were higher due to increased volume of value added downstream products and better metal premium realised by Hindalco. The company said, “In the Aluminium segment, results were impacted by operational disturbances in both the smelters of the Company.”
Aluminium and alumina production dropped to 128 kt and 328 kt in the second quarter as against 132 kt and 335 kt in the first quarter of the current fiscal, respectively. The company said that this was primarily due to lower production at the Belgaum Refinery reflecting the constraints in the
availability of bauxite for this plant. “Continuing cost pressures, particularly in case of coal
and caustic soda, also strained the results,” it added.
Talking on the expansion projects, Bhattacharya said that the Utkal and Mahan smelters will start commissioning by March-April next year and Aditya smelter will see commissioning by the middle of next calendar year.
Gross debt on Hindalco’s books at the end of the September quarter was Rs 19,000 crore.