Vedanta turns volatile after Q3 numbers

Vedanta lost 1.09% to Rs 136.45 after reporting third quarter earnings after market hours yesterday.

The mining company reported 49.2% jump in consolidate net profit to Rs 2,348 crore in Q3 December 2019 as compared to Rs 1,574 crore reported in the same period last year.

Net sales declined 9.9% to Rs 21,126 crore in Q3 December 2019 from Rs 23,435 crore in Q3 December 2018. Revenue declined primarily due to subdued commodity prices and lower volumes in Zinc and Oil & Gas business, partially offset by past exploration cost recovery in Oil & Gas business and higher volumes at Iron Ore & Steel business.

Profit before tax (PBT) rose 9.4% to Rs 3806 crore in Q3 December 2019 as compared to Rs 3478 crore in Q3 December 2018.

EBITDA rose 10% to 6,531 crore year-on-year (YoY), primarily due to past exploration cost recovery in Oil & Gas (Rs 1,276 crore), lower cost of production & true up of RPO liability (Rs 460 crore) at Aluminium business, partially offset by lower volumes and commodity prices.

Total expenditures in the December quarter stood at Rs 14,846 crore, down by 17.6% from Rs 18,024 crore in Q3 December 2018.

In the zinc business, mined metal production in India stood at 235 kilotonnes (kt), up 7% from the previous quarter. Vedanta reported its highest ever quarterly alumina production in Lanjigarh at 476kt, up 16% in the October-December period, while steel production was at 317kt, 18% up.

As on 31st December 2019, gross debt was at Rs 58,589 crore, higher by Rs 2,691crore as compared to September 2019. This was mainly due to the increase in temporary borrowing at Zinc India and term debt at oil & gas partially offset by debt repayment at Vedanta standalone. Net debt stood at Rs 23,384 crore, higher by Rs 3,303 crore as compared to September 2019 in line with increase in gross debt.

Srinivasan Venkatakrishnan, chief executive officer, Vedanta, said, "We remain on track to become the world's largest long-life integrated Zinc-Lead-silver producer in 2 years while maintaining our cost leadership.Our Aluminium business continues to benefit from improved integration and systemic cost improvements. In our Oil & Gas business, the completion of new facilities and hook up of new production wells paves the way for higher volumes ahead.Our enviable project pipeline across all our key businesses will benefit from the resumption of accelerating growth from India. We look forward to an exciting fourth quarter and the year ahead."

Vedanta mines, produces, and exports base metals.

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