Hindustan Zinc net profit drops 8 pc to Rs 1,765 cr in June quarter

Vedanta Group firm Hindustan Zinc Ltd (HZL) Friday posted a 7.9 per cent fall in net profit to Rs 1,765 crore for the quarter ended June 30. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 1,918 crore in the year-ago period, HZL said in a filing to the BSE.

"The resultant net profit for the quarter was Rs 1,765 crore, down eight per cent year-on-year and down 12 per cent sequentially primarily due to lower Ebitda, partly offset by lower tax rate," the statement said. HZL CEO Sunil Duggal told PTI that the drop in net profit is mainly due to fall in the metal prices on the London Metal Exchange.

The company's revenue from operations dropped to Rs 4,924 crore in the April-June quarter, compared with Rs 5,258 crore in the year-ago period, the filing said. The total expenses during the quarter increased to Rs 3,073 crore, against Rs 2,995 crore in the year-ago period, the filing said.

HZL Chairman Kiran Agarwal said, "Our expansion projects are on track and as they near completion, our position as an industry leader with large sustainable operations gets strengthened. We are one of the lowest-cost producers with world-class assets which can deliver high returns to all our stakeholders in any market environment." Duggal said production volume is expected to trend up in the coming quarters and along with internal efficiencies, technology and digitisation initiatives, costs to progressively reduce. "As we approach the conclusion of 1.2 MTPA (million tonne per annum) expansion, the journey towards 1.35 MTPA has been initiated. For this, we have ramped up our exploration to leverage the potential of existing deposits and new ore bodies to secure our future."

The company, he said, was doing a lot of activities on metal and mineral recovery and added that HZL was "engaging with global consultants for taking next phase of growth". The firm's mined metal production was 2,13,000 tonne, up one per cent from a year ago, on the back of higher ore production offset by lower grades.

HZL said its integrated metal output was 2,19,000 tonne, a rise of three per cent from the year-ago period. Integrated zinc production was 1,72,000 tonne, flat year-on-year in line with mined metal production.

Shares of the company closed at Rs 219.75 apiece on the BSE, down 2.33 per cent from the previous close.

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