Hindustan Zinc, a Vedanta Group company, has reported that its net profit in the March quarter was up 68 per cent at ₹5,033 crore against ₹3,003 crore logged in the same period last year – the highest profit growth in 20 quarters – largely due to sharp rise in silver and other metal prices.
Revenue increased 44 per cent to ₹12,692 crore (₹8,829 crore), logging the best growth in 19 quarters. EBITDA increased 61 per cent to ₹7,747 crore (₹4,816 crore).
Silver revenue more than doubled to ₹4,032 crore (₹1,688 crore). Revenue from zinc was up 19 per cent at ₹6,997 crore (₹5,856 crore) while that from lead and others increased 12 per cent and 164 per cent to ₹1,153 crore and ₹1,362 crore, respectively.
The company’s refined metal production was up 5 per cent at 2.82 lakh tonne in the quarter under review.
The cost of producing Zinc was down 9 per cent at $903 per tonne on account of lower power cost driven by higher domestic coal usage and softened coal prices, higher by-product realisation, better mined grades and increased metal production, said the company.
The company further strengthened its long-term growth outlook, with record ore resources and reserves of 468.6 million tonne, supporting a mine life of over 25 years and surpassing 13.9 million tonne of metal reserves and 1.09 lakh tonne of silver reserves for the first time, providing strong visibility on future production and growth, it said.
Capex top up
The company has announced a capex of $500-$600 million in FY27. It expects mined mineral and metal production to increase to 11.5 lakh tonne and 11 lakh tonne in FY27.
Silver output is expected at 680 tonne while cost of production of zinc was at $975-$1,000 per tonne in this fiscal.
As of March-end, the company had gross investments and cash and cash equivalents of ₹13,846 crore invested in high quality debt instruments. Total borrowings outstanding was at ₹8,252 crore.
The company expects to complete 5.10 tonne per annum fertilizer plant and the innovative hot acid leaching technology for recovery of lead and silver from smelting waste at Dariba by September quarter.
‘Mine’stone of 1.1 mt
Arun Misra, Chief Executive Officer, said the company’s full year mined metal production crossed key milestone of 1.1 million tonnes.
“We have also delivered the lowest cost of production of despite the ongoing geopolitical challenges with the focus on strong execution and unwavering focus on value creation,” he said