Hindustan Zinc Q2 profit up 14.6% at Rs 2,081 cr; stock ends 1.6% higher

Vedanta group firm Hindustan Zinc Ltd (HZL) on Tuesday posted a 14.6 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 2,081 crore for the quarter ended on September 30, 2019.

The company had posted a net profit of Rs 1,815 crore in the year-ago period, HZL said in a filing to BSE.

However, total income of the company declined to Rs 5,101 crore during July-September 2019 from Rs 5,175 crore in the year-ago period.

Commenting on the performance, HZL Chairman Kiran Agarwal said, "We are setting up Hindustan Zinc for 1.35 mtpa (million tonnes per annum) capacity in a phased manner over the coming years through focussed exploration, smart technology interventions and disciplined execution of expansion projects."

"We are strengthening our fundamentals of low-cost operations and long mine-life in order to be at the forefront and deliver industry leading returns for our shareholders," Agarwal said.

HZL CEO Sunil Duggal said the company looks to deliver better performance in the second half of the fiscal on the back of opening of new mines and completion of expansion projects.

"We are entering H2 with the last phase of expansion projects getting completed, enabling 1.2 mtpa capacity. With rapid development initiatives leading to opening of newer mining blocks and increasing shaft haulage, we expect to deliver a better performance in H2," he said.

HZL chief financial officer Swayam Saurabh said investments in automation and digitisation were steadily delivering results and would support cost optimisation goals.

"Our target is to maintain our strong financial profile and cost leadership through higher productivity," Saurabh said.

Mined metal production for the quarter was 2,19,000 tonnes, up 3 per cent sequentially on account of higher ore production.

Integrated metal production was 2,10,000 tonnes for the quarter, almost flat from a year ago.

Integrated zinc production was 1,66,000 tonnes, up 2 per cent Y-o-Y in line with mined metal production while integrated lead production was down 11 per cent Y-o-Y to 44,000 tonnes due to production issues at Dariba lead smelter.

Shares of the company closed higher by 1.64 per cent at Rs 220.55 on BSE.