On Thursday, Vedanta subsidiary Hindustan Zinc reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 2,156 crore for the December quarter, down 20% from Rs 2,701 crore reported in the same period a year ago.
The profit after tax (PAT) decreased by 19% on a sequential basis. In the third quarter of September, it was 2,680 crore (Q2FY23).
Meanwhile, revenue from operations declined by 2% to ₹7,628 crore from ₹7,841 crores in the same quarter last year.
The decline in revenue was due to lower LME volumes that coincided with lower volumes of refined metals and silver, partially offset by favourable exchange rates and strategic hedging benefits.
The company’s EBITDA for the three months came in at ₹3,717 crores, down 15% year-on-year from ₹4,392 crores.
The mining business has declared its third interim dividend, worth Rs. 5,493 crore or Rs. 13 per share. The Vedanta-backed metals company has a proven track record of giving its investors large dividend returns.
Hindustan Zinc has fixed January 30 as the record date for determining the shareholders eligible for the third interim dividend.
“Hindustan Zinc has achieved the best metal in 9 months based on the highest ever mined metal base. We succeeded in mining one million tonnes of metal in FY22, and this year, if things continue, we anticipate producing one million tonnes of refined metal. Metal Mark and are all set to deliver yet another astonishing annual performance,” said Arun Mishra, Chief Executive Officer.
“Achieving this milestone in FY23, as well as a flexible pipeline of projects, will bring us closer to our vision of mining 1.2 million tonnes of the metal over the next few years,” he added.
Hindustan Zinc is the country’s only integrated Zinc, Lead and Silver producer. The company’s headquartered in Udaipur, Rajasthan, where it has Zinc, lead mines and smelting complexes.
Hindustan Zinc shares were up 4.28% at ₹376.80 on the NSE at the end of trading on Thursday.
Mined metal production for the quarter was 254 kilotonnes (kt), marginally higher than Q3 FY22 and marginally lower than the previous quarter due to higher ore production and overall mined metal grades. The company posted the nine-month highest mined metal production at 761 kt, a growth of 5.4% year-on-year, driven by higher ore production, better-mined metal grades and operational efficiency.
Zinc production during the quarter was 210 kt, lower by 1.7% over last year and higher by 11.3% sequentially. The company said nine-month integrated zinc production was 606 kt, up 7.3% year-on-year.
Silver production for the quarter was 161 MT, which was 6.9% lower than last year due to lower feed grade at SK mine as per the mine plan.
The board also approved a third interim dividend of Rs 13 per capital share of directors of the corporation. January 30 is the record date for dividend payments.
The company said it would also buy the capital shares of THL Zinc Limited, Mauritius, which includes Hindustan Zinc for Black Mountain Mining Private Limited, South Africa (69.6 per cent) and THL Zinc Namibia Holdings (Pte) Limited (100 per cent), Namibia. Are included. Through its wholly owned subsidiary, not to exceed $2,981 million on a tiered basis for cash consideration. Eventually, THL Zinc Limited will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company.
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This investment is an exciting opportunity for Hindustan Zinc to expand its presence overseas and take its brand globally. Hindustan Zinc will have combined reserves and resources of over 1 billion tonnes of ore and over 65 million metric tonnes of the metal in India and Africa.
THL Zinc Limited is a wholly-owned subsidiary of THL Zinc Ventures Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Vedanta Limited.
