Hindustan Zinc Q3 net profit drops 27 pc to Rs 1,620 cr

Hindustan Zinc Ltd on Monday posted a 26.7 per cent decline in net profit at Rs 1,620 crore for the December 2019 quarter.

Net profit in the year-ago period was Rs 2,211 crore, the company said in a BSE filing.

"Net profit for the quarter was Rs 1,620 crore, a decline of 22 per cent sequentially and 27 per cent year-on-year," it said.

Total income during October-December dropped to Rs 5,117 crore as compared to Rs 6,090 crore in the year-ago quarter, the filing said.

"We have delivered good performance in a challenging market environment and are committed to maintaining the growth trajectory. We remain focused on our fundamentals of sustainability, efficiency, technology and digitisation to maintain industry leadership and deliver healthy return to our shareholders," Hindustan Zinc Ltd CEO Sunil Duggal said.

Mined metal production for the quarter was 2,35,000 tonnes, up seven per cent sequentially on account of higher ore production and better overall grades.

"Integrated metal production was 219kt (2,19,000 tonnes) for the quarter, up 4 per cent sequentially... increase in zinc production to 178kt (1,78,000 tonnes) while lead production declined by 7 per cent to 41kt (41,000 tonnes)," it said.

Integrated zinc production increased in line with higher mined metal availability.

The ongoing mining expansion, the company said, is in its final phase and on track to achieve capacity of 1.2 million tonnes per annum.

As on December 31, 2019, the company's net cash and cash equivalents was Rs 19,513 crore as compared to Rs 16,952 crore at the end of FY'19.

The company's target is to maintain cost leadership by bringing in operational efficiencies and higher productivity through technology adoption and digital transformation, aided by completion of our key projects, company's CFO Swayam Saurabh said.