Hindalco Industries earmarks capex growth of $2.5-$3 billion over 5 years

In a bid to strengthen its balance sheet, Hindalco Industries has earmarked growth capex of $2.5-$3 billion on a consolidated basis over the next five years, chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla said today.

He was speaking at Hindalco Industries’ 62nd annual general meeting held via virtual platform.

Part of the capex will be deployed towards Novelis’ business regions in auto-finishing lines expansion in the US and China and rolling and recycling capacity expansion in Brazil.

In the domestic market, the company is already on track to implement organic growth projects of over $1 billion towards Utkal alumina expansion and various downstream projects in both aluminium and copper businesses.

As on March 2021, the company’s consolidated net-debt-to-EBITDA stands at 2.59 times from the peak of 3.83 times as on June 2020, said Birla.

“Our India downstream strategy of reducing exposure to the global aluminium price fluctuations and increasing the share of value-added-products across businesses is also playing out well. More than 80 percent of Hindalco’s consolidated EBITDA was delinked from the volatility of the global metal prices,” Birla informed the shareholders.     

Alongside, the Aditya Birla Group company has also chalked out a clear Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) commitment roadmap to achieve net neutrality by 2050.

The company informed that its efforts towards carbon neutrality has led to 17 percent reduction in specific energy consumption in aluminium production against their target of 25 percent by 2025.

The company has recommended a dividend of Rs 3 per equity share for FY21.