Vedanta plans capex cuts, "deep restructuring" in Zambia

By Abhiram Nandakumar and Roshni Menon

(Reuters) - Vedanta Resources Plc, hit by weaker commodity prices, said it planned "hundreds of millions of dollars" in capital spending cuts and deferrals, while looking at a "deep restructuring" of its struggling Zambian copper business.

Vedanta spent $1.42 billion on capital projects in year ended June 30, 2014, down from $2.02 billion a year earlier.

London-listed Vedanta, which has most of its operations in India, joins other mining and energy companies in scrambling to cut costs, review operations and manage debt as prices of iron ore, copper, oil and other commodities weaken.

Vedanta reported on Friday that its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell 11 percent to $1.02 billion in the third quarter ended Dec. 31, while revenue rose only marginally to $3.36 billion.

Vedanta's shares fell as much as 4.8 percent to 353.21 pence in morning trading. The stock has lost almost 70 percent of its value in the past seven months.

Copper prices have been flirting with near 5-1/2-year lows, while benchmark Brent crude has shed 60 percent in the last seven months. Vedanta is exposed to oil and gas prices through its Cairn India unit.

The sharp fall in copper prices has exacerbated Vedanta's problems in Zambia, where operational issues and rising production costs, among other issues, have hurt its copper mining business over the past few quarters.

The Zambian business, Konkola Copper Mines (KCM), contributes about 9 percent of Vedanta's revenue but showed nil core earnings in the latest quarter.

Vedanta said the government's decision to raise underground mining royalties to 8 percent of gross revenue from 6 percent starting from 2015 would result in a $15 million hit on core earnings in the current quarter.

KCM Chief Executive Steven Din said management would meet Zambian officials next week to discuss ways to stem the negative cash flow at the unit, which is 20.6 percent owned by the government.

Talks are also planned with bankers next week regarding KCM's debt repayments, Din said.

Vedanta said the group was also reviewing its debt repayment options. Vedanta has net debt of about $8.8 billion.

"The balance sheet is a risk but if (commodity) prices fail to recover, the company would just avoid a covenant breach on our numbers," Credit Suisse analysts said in a note.

Vedanta's shares were down 0.6 percent at 368.8 pence at 1434 GMT.

(Reporting by Abhiram Nandakumar and Roshni Menon in Bengaluru; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier and Ted Kerr)