Hindustan Zinc Q 2 net profit up 14.5% to Rs 1539.79 cr

Vedanta group firm Hindustan Zinc today reported a 14.5% growth in net profit to Rs 1,539.79 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2012, largely due to higher volumes of refined lead and silver.

The company had reported a net profit of Rs 1,344.69 crore during the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal.

Net sales of the company was up nearly 9% to Rs 2,822.30 crore during the quarter vis-a-vis Rs 2,593.49 crore of the July-September quarter of FY12, it said in a filing to the BSE.

In a separate statement, the company said its production of refined lead at 24,000 tonnes during the quarter was up 40%, while its silver production increased by 63% to 80 tonnes.

However, company's refined zinc production was down 17% to 1,53,000 tonnes during the quarter.

"During second quarter and first half of FY13, the positive impact of higher lead-silver volumes and Rupee depreciation was offset by lower zinc volumes, lower prices of zinc, lead and silver," the statement said.

During the quarter, international market prices of zinc, lead and silver were down in the range of 15 to 23%.

"Our results show our ability to deliver consistent performance from our best-in-class assets. We will continue our growth story in future and maintain our cost leadership to deliver industry leading performance," company chairman Agnivesh Agarwal said in the statement.

The company further said it expects its mined metal production for the entire year to be "slightly higher than the previous year".

Talking about the expansion plans, the company said that development of its Rampura Agucha and Kayar underground mines, which can produce zinc, lead and silver, are progressing well and will "start commercial production in FY 2014".

Meanwhile, the company Board today recommended an interim dividend of Rs 1.60 per share of Rs 2 each.

As on September 30, Hindustan Zinc --the most profitable company of Vedanta group-- had cash and cash equivalents of Rs 19,136 crore.

Shares of the company closed today at Rs 134.80 apiece on the BSE, down 0.26% from the previous close.