Vedanta Ltd Q1 net profit falls over 40% to Rs 3,308 crore on lower income

Vedanta Ltd on Friday reported a 40.84 per cent fall in its consolidated net profit to Rs 3,308 crore in the April-June quarter, dragged by lower income. Its "profit after tax before share in profit/ (loss) of jointly controlled entities and associates" was at Rs 5,592 crore in the same period of 2022-23, Vedanta Ltd said in a BSE filing. However, on a quarter-on-quarter, the company's net profit was 5.61 per cent higher over Rs 3,132 crore in the January-March quarter.

The company's total income also fell to Rs 34,279 crore from Rs 39,355 crore in the year-ago period. Its expenses were at Rs 31,973 crore as against Rs 32,095 crore a year ago. The company further said Sunil Duggal completes his tenure as the WholeTime Director & CEO of the company effective close of business hours on July 31, 2023.

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On the recommendation of the Nomination and Remuneration Committee of the Company, considered and approved the appointment of Arun Misra as an Additional Director designated as an Executive Director of the company effective August 1, 2023, to May 31, 2025 subject to the approval of the shareholders, Vedanta said. Mishra is the CEO of Vedanta Ltd subsidiary Hindustan Zinc Ltd. In a separate statement, Sunil Duggal, CEO Vedanta, said, "We have delivered Rs 6,975 crore in EBITDA this quarter, with an operating margin of 24 per cent and PAT of Rs 3,308 crore, marking a 6 per cent increase sequentially.

"As we continue to move forward, we remain committed to achieving operational excellence and enhancing our competitiveness in the market. We are determined to lead the charge towards a more sustainable and responsible tomorrow." In the first quarter or 1Q FY24, the finance cost was at Rs 2,110 crore, as compared to Rs 1,206 crore in 1Q FY23 and Rs 1,805 crore in 4QFY23, mainly due to increase in blended cost of borrowings and average borrowings.

Vedanta Ltd net debt was at Rs 59,192 crore as of June 30, 2023. A subsidiary of Vedanta Resources Ltd, Vedanta Ltd has operations in oil and gas, zinc, lead, silver, copper, iron ore, steel, and aluminium and power across India, South Africa and Namibia. In April-June, its aluminium production increased by 2 per cent y-o-y to 579 kilo tonnes (kt). The company also managed to reduce its aluminium production cost by 27 per cent y-o-y during the quarter. Its overall zinc production increased 1 per cent y-o-y to 68 kt. The average gross operated production was of oil and gas 134,867 boepd (barrels of oil equivalent per day).

The natural decline was partially offset by infill wells in Mangala, Raageshwari Deep Gas (RDG) and Aishwariya Barmer Hill (ABH). Saleable steel production increased 20 per cent y-o-y to 324 kt on account of higher production capacity post debottlenecking carried out in FY23. The production of iron ore from Karnataka declined by 9 per cent y-o-y to 1.2 million tonnes. The due legal process is being followed to achieve a sustainable restart of the copper operations.