Hindustan Zinc net profit rises 46% to Rs 1,983 cr in Q1 on higher volumes

Vedanta group firm Hindustan Zinc Ltd (HZL) on Thursday reported a 45.9 per cent rise in net profit to Rs 1,983 crore for the quarter ended on June 30, 2021, driven by a recovery in metal prices and higher volumes.

The company had posted a net profit of Rs 1,359 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal, Hindustan Zinc said in a filing to BSE.

The company said the increase was mainly driven by recovery in metal prices and higher volumes.

Total income of the company during April-June quarter increased to Rs 6,880 crore, from Rs 4,673 crore in the year-ago period. Total expenses during the quarter increased to Rs 3,723 crore over Rs 3,009 crore in the corresponding quarter of previous fiscal, the filing said.

"We delivered the highest-ever Q1 ore, refined metal and silver production. After exiting at a run-rate of 1.2 MTPA in the fiscal year 2021, we maintained the momentum of production in Q1 with Year-on-Year growth of 15 per cent in ore, 17 per cent in refined metal and 37 per cent in silver in spite of the spurt in Covid cases in the second wave of the pandemic," the company's CEO Arun Misra said.

Company's Sr VP and Head Finance Vinaya Jain said that the company delivered its best ever Q1 revenue, EBITDA and profit after tax (PAT).

"Our strong balance sheet enables us to make proactive investments in operations and digitalisation that will further enhance our mining output. We do recognise the headwinds from the rising input commodity prices and are doubling our efforts to address them through long lasting structural cost initiatives."

Mined metal production for the quarter was up 9 per cent Y-o-Y to 2,21,000 tonnes on account of higher ore production,

partly offset by lower overall grade, the company said.

Integrated metal production was 236,000 tonnes for the quarter, up 17 per cent Y-o-Y in line with higher mined metal availability. Integrated zinc production was 1,88,000 tonnes, up 20 per cent Y-o-Y, it said.

"Integrated silver production was 161 tons, up 37 per cent from a year ago in line with higher lead production, partly offset by lower grades at Sindesar Khurd (SK) mine, while it was down 21 per cent sequentially primarily in-line with lower lead production," the statement said.

"We maintain our ... guidance on operational & financial metrics for the fiscal year 2022. In light of rising input commodity prices, management is closely monitoring the situation and taking all necessary actions to combat it.