BHUBANESWAR: Vedanta Group firm Hindustan Zinc Ltd has reported a 29.7 per cent decline in net profit for the quarter ended September 30, 2018, dented by higher expenses.Net profit dropped to `1,815 crore ($247.43 million) in the quarter, from Rs 2,584 crore a year earlier, the zinc miner said. Revenue from operations was down 10 per cent at Rs 4,777 crore against Rs 5,309 crore a year ago, primarily due to lower metal prices and lower zinc metal volume, partly offset by higher lead and silver volumes and rupee depreciation.
“The decline is in line with EBITDA and higher depreciation, partly offset by lower tax rate,” the company said in a BSE filing. EBITDA fell 22.8 per cent at Rs 2,334 crore, while margin was down at 48.9 per cent.
Total expenses increased to Rs 2,897 crore against Rs 2,694 crore in the same quarter of 2017-18, while total income during the quarter dropped to Rs 5,171 crore from Rs 5,779 crore in the year-ago period.
During the quarter, the company’s mined metal production from underground mines was all-time high at 232 kilo tonne (kt), up 10 per cent sequentially, and 44 per cent year-on-year.
Integrated metal production stood at 212 kt, down 8 per cent from the year-ago period.
“Integrated zinc production was down 5 per cent sequentially and 16 per cent year-on-year to 162 kt due to temporary mismatch in mined metal availability even as mine production ramped up towards the later half of the quarter,” the company said in a regulatory filing.
On the outlook, Hindustan Zinc said, “Mined metal and refined zinc-lead production in the second half of 2018-19 are expected to be significantly higher than that in the first half with the continued ramp-up of underground mines and the overall production in the fiscal will be slightly higher than that of last year, as guided earlier.”The company’s shares settled at Rs 282.60 a piece on BSE, down 1.14 per cent from the previous close. It has declared interim dividend at Rs 20 per share.