Sterlite Ind Q2 net down marginally at Rs 998 cr

Vedanta group firm Sterlite Industries today reported a little over one% decline in consolidated net profit at Rs 997.78 crore for the quarter ended September 30, largely due to foreign exchange losses.

The company had reported a net profit of Rs 1,008.03 crore for the corresponding quarter of the last fiscal.

Net sales of the company, however, registered a growth of over 68% at Rs 10,133.84 crore during the quarter under review from Rs 6,028.98 crore of the July-September quarter of FY11, it said in a filing to the BSE.

During this quarter, the company incurred a net forex loss of Rs 466.22 crore due to depreciation in rupee, which has declined by about 10% in last 2-3 months. The company had reported a net gain of Rs 136.26 crore in the year-ago period.

However, higher realisations from its copper, power, zinc, lead and silver ventures during the quarter, resulted in a growth of over 68% in company's net sales, the filing said.

The company's copper business climbed by over 76% during the quarter at Rs 5,129.41 crore, while the zinc, lead and silver segment recorded a growth of over 66% at Rs 3,568.87 crore, the filing said.

Besides this, the power business of the company rose by 3.82 times to Rs 622.27 crore during the July-September quarter.

However, the company's realisations from aluminium business went down by 4.52% at Rs 685.53 crore during the quarter, the filing said.

On a standalone basis, net profit of the company plunged by 35.84% at Rs 257.17 crore during the quarter under review vis-a-vis Rs 400.87 crore in the year-ago period.

The filing also said that Vedanta Aluminium, an associate firm of Sterlite, has filed a petition in the Orissa High Court for review of its judgement on expansion of its alumina refinery in the state.

Last year, the Environment Ministry had denied permission to the proposal of expanding its alumina refining capacity to 6 million tonnes per annum. The Vedanta group firm had later challenged this order in Orissa High Court, although it could not get the judgement in its favour.

The filing also said that its case, challenging the Madras High Court order of closing down its copper smelter unit in Tamil Nadu's Tuticorin, is likely to come before the Supreme Court in January next year.

The company scrip today closed at Rs 115.95 on the BSE, up 0.74%.