Hindustan Zinc Q3 net profit drops 20% to Rs 2,156 cr on higher expenses

Vedanta group firm Hindustan Zinc Ltd (HZL) on Thursday reported a 20 per cent decline in consolidated net profit to Rs 2,156 crore for the quarter ended on December 31, 2022, on the back of higher expenses and lower revenue.

The company had posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 2,701 crore in the year-ago period, HZL said in a filing to BSE.

"Net profit for the quarter was at Rs 2,156 crore, down 20.2 per cent Y-o-Y and 19.6 per cent sequentially on account of lower EBITDA partly offset by lower tax expense," the company's statement said.

The company's consolidated revenue from operations in the October-December period dropped to Rs 7,628 crore from Rs 7,841 crore in the year-ago period.

Commenting on results, HZL CEO Arun Misra said that the company delivered the best-ever nine months of refined metal mark on the back of the highest mined metal.

"In FY22, we reached the one million tonnes mined metal landmark, and this year with the current run-rate, we are confident of achieving the one million tonne refined metal mark and are fully geared to deliver another stellar annual performance.

Reaching this milestone in FY23 along with a resilient pipeline of projects will bring us closer to our vision of 1.2 million tonne mined metal in coming years," he said.

The consolidated expenses of the company during the third quarter increased to Rs 5,028 crore over Rs 4,411 crore in the year-ago period.

The consolidated quarterly performance was a blend of operational efficiencies impacted by input commodity inflation. With softening of coal cost and an ongoing structured cost optimisation plan targeted at operational efficiencies, the company is confident to deliver yet another stellar financial performance and continue to maintain its cost leadership in the global cost curve, the company's deputy and interim CFO Sandeep Modi said.

"With our continuing efforts to expand our renewable power investments and with current tie-ups of up to 450 MW, we foresee a better cost predictability and improved cost structure," he said.

As on Dec 31, 2022, HZL's consolidated gross investments and cash and cash equivalents were Rs 16,482 crore as compared to Rs 17,807 crore at the end of September 2022.

Hindustan Zinc is the country's integrated producer of zinc, lead and silver.