Hindalco consolidated third quarter profit soars 77% to Rs 1,877 cr

The jump was mainly driven by strong performance by Novelis and India aluminium business

Hindalco Industries on Wednesday reported 76.74 per cent growth in consolidated profit after tax (PAT) at Rs 1,877 crore during the quarter ending December 31, 2020, compared to the same quarter of the previous financial year mainly driven by strong performance by Novelis and India aluminium business.

The company's PAT during the third quarter of 2019-20 stood at Rs 1,062 crore, Hindalco said in a BSE filing.

The consolidated revenue from operations of Hindalco for the quarter under review went up by 19.73 per cent to Rs 34,958 crore compared to Rs 29,197 crore in the corresponding quarter of FY20.

The strong third quarter is due to robust performance by Novelis and domestic aluminium business, which was supported by higher volumes and better product mix, lower input costs, stability in operations and cost saving actions, Hindalco Industries Managing Director Satish Pai told reporters in a virtual press conference.

"The demand has been back globally during the third quarter to the pre-COVID levels in every sector. Novelis achieved record shipments, driven by strong demand across product end markets. The India business delivered an excellent performance with aluminium value-added products continuing to record higher volumes," Pai added.

Going forward, he stated that the vaccination is being rolled out, which will give further confidence so the company is quite bullish on the demand for the next financial year.

In the last quarter of FY21, Pai said "Q4 demand a million tonnes of aluminium is more or less where the capacity demand is currently. So, in Q4 the demand will be at the Q3 levels."

Talking about prices, Pai stated that it is dependent on LME (London Metal Exchange) and is currently trading at USD 2,000 per tonne level and is expected to be in the USD 1,900-2,000 tonne level during the fourth quarter.

Further, he said, the inclusion of the Aleris business has positively impacted the overall top line and EBITDA, with realisation of synergies at USD 54 million on a run-rate basis in the third quarter.

Meanwhile, the company is planning to come out with a capital allocation strategy soon, Pai stated without elaborating on the amount.

"We believe that cash flow generation is going to be good. So we are going to sort of describe how we will invest that money into a growth capex to reduce our net debt, as well as distribution to shareholders. So this capital allocation strategy will be laid out in the coming weeks," he said.

The standalone net debt of Hindalco is Rs 14,800 crore and that for Novalis is Rs 47,500 crore.

Shares of the company ended 0.38 per cent higher at Rs 279.35 apiece on BSE.