Hindustan Zinc Q4 profit down 18 pc at Rs 2,505 cr

Vedanta group firm Hindustan Zinc's net profit fell 18 per cent to Rs 2,505 core in the quarter ended March 2018 mainly on account of lower revenues.

The company's net profit in the corresponding quarter was Rs 3,057 crore, a Hindustan Zinc Ltd statement said.

Total income of the company in the fourth quarter came down to 6,763 crore from Rs 7,237 crore in the same period a year ago.

During the quarter under review, revenue from zinc and other metal dipped to Rs 5,547 crore from Rs 6,107 crore in the same period year ago. Its revenue from wind energy too declined to Rs 22 crore in the quarter from Rs 29 crore a year earlier.

However, the revenue from silver metal increased to Rs 637 crore in the quarter from Rs 563 crore in January-March 2016-17.

For the entire fiscal 2017-18, the company's net profit rose 11.54 per cent to Rs 9,276 crore as compared to Rs 8,316 crore in the previous year.

Total income of the company during the fiscal 2017-18 was Rs 24,272 crore as compared to Rs 21,272 crore in 2016-17.

Hindustan Zinc chairman Agnivesh Agarwal said in a statement, "The financial year 2018 was marked by strong performance from all our underground mines and many benchmarks were set. We reached a new milestone this year with a complete transition to underground mining and are on track to reach 1.2 mtpa mined metal capacity by FY 2020.

"Our strategic vision is to grow our output to 1.5 mtpa and I am delighted that the board has approved the first phase of expansion towards achieving it.

Giving its outlook, the company said that mined metal and refined zinc-lead production in FY 2019 is expected to be slightly higher than that of last year, filling the gap caused by completion of open-cast production. Silver production is expected to be in the range of 650 to 700 MT.

COP (cost of production) before royalty is projected to be in the range of USD 950 to 975 per MT in FY 2019. Tax rate is expected to trend up while quarterly depreciation expense is expected to be in the range of Rs 350 to Rs 400 crore. The project capex on mining and smelter expansions is expected to be approximately USD 400 million in FY 2019, it added.

On expansion projects, it said the announced mining projects are progressing in line with the target of reaching 1.2 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of mined metal capacity in FY 2020.

It said that the board has approved the phase I of this expansion which will increase mined metal and smelting capacity from 1.2 mtpa to 1.35 mtpa through brownfield expansion of existing mines at an estimated capital expenditure of around Rs. 4500 crore.

The company said that in view of the second interim dividend (announced earlier, no final dividend is recommended.

On March 16, 2018, the board of directors declared second interim dividend of 300 per cent i.e. Rs 6 per share (300 per cent) on equity share of Rs 2. Together with the interim dividend of Rs 2 per share (100 per cent) paid in October 2017, the aggregate interim dividend paid during FY 2018 was Rs 8 per share (400 per cent) amounting to Rs 4,068 crore including DDT.