Vedanta Q2 net profit falls 60% on higher expenses; revenue up 20%

Metals and mining major Vedanta on Friday reported a 60.8 per cent year-on-year (YoY) decline in consolidated net profit at Rs 1,808 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2022 (Q2), on the back of higher expenses. This was a sharp miss from the Bloomberg consensus estimate of Rs 2,036 crore.

The company had posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 4,615 crore in the year-ago period. Sequentially, net profit declined 59.1 per cent in Q2. The company had reported a net profit of Rs 4,421 crore in the June quarter.

Vedanta's revenue during the quarter under review increased to Rs 36,237 crore from Rs 30,048 crore reported a year ago. This was up 20.6 per cent YoY.

Revenue for the quarter came ahead of Street estimates, which had pegged the top line at Rs 34,758 crore for Q2. In comparison to the June quarter, revenue declined 5.3 per cent in Q2. Revenue for the June quarter came in at Rs 38,251 crore, Vedanta’s results showed.

The company’s expenses during the July-September period increased to Rs 33,221 crore from Rs 23,171 crore in the year-ago period. This was a jump of 43 per cent from a year-ago period, thanks to the elevated costs, analysts said.

Performance during the September quarter, in particular, was affected by weaker commodity prices. The impact was particularly severe for Vedanta’s aluminium business due to a sharp decline in prices. Vedanta’s oil and gas business also took a hit due to the windfall tax and lower crude prices in Q2, analysts said.

Vedanta ended trade 1.18 per cent lower on the BSE on Friday at Rs 284.85 per share versus the previous day’s close. In the last one year, the Vedanta stock has fallen by 5.31 per cent on the BSE.