Vedanta Resources Q3 revenues dip 31% to $1.3 bn

Metals and mining major Vedanta Resources Plc today announced 31 per cent decline in revenues at $1.30 billion for the third quarter ended December 31, on sharp fall in metal prices amid deteriorating economic conditions.

The revenues of the London Stock Exchange-listed firm had been $1.88 billion in the same quarter last fiscal, the company said in a statement.

Impacted by inventory write-downs to the tune of $104 million, Vedanta's Earnings before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation (EBITDA) dropped over 98 per cent to $10.1 million in third quarter this fiscal.

The earnings also suffered from negative provisional pricing adjustments of $47 million and currency translation losses of about $34 million.

Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta's EBITDA had stood at $671.5 million for the third quarter ended December in 2007.

Further, the record production volumes of zinc and aluminium and record sales of iron ore were primarily offset by steep falls in commodity prices as well as negative provisional pricing adjustments and write-down of inventories to their net realisable value, the statement said.

Vedanta's aluminium production in the third quarter was a record 122,000 tonnes, a 23 per cent increase over the corresponding quarter, primarily due to the ramp-up and stepped commissioning of the first phase of the 500,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) Jharsuguda aluminium smelter etc.