Vedanta Resources today reported a decline of 4.72 per cent in consolidated gross profit at $848.40 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2011, largely due to lower realisations from its aluminium business and Zambian copper operations.
In a statement, the company said the gross profit or EBITDA also includes $131 million earned from Cairn India, which was acquired by Vedanta group last year.
The company had reported its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) at $898.4 million during the corresponding quarter of 2010-11.
The gross revenues of the company, during the quarter under review, were at about $3.399 billion, marking a rise of about 10.81 per cent as compared to $3.068 billion of the Q3 of 2010-11.
However, lower London Metal Exchange (LME) prices and “mark to market (MTM) losses on foreign currency borrowings for working capital on account of the depreciation of the Indian rupee” pulled down the profit of its aluminium business, the company said in a statement.
The gross profits from the aluminium business of the company were down by about 95 per cent during the quarter to $3.6 million vis-a-vis $76.3 million of Q3 of FY’11.
Similarly, the Zambian copper operations also reported a 53 per cent drop in gross profits to $67.7 million, largely due to “lower London Metal Exchange (LME) prices and a provision for higher power cost”, it added.
Besides this, company’s other business segments like zinc, lead and silver and iron ore also reported drop in gross profits, thereby pulling down its EBITDA during the Q3 of the current fiscal.
For the nine month period, ended December 31, 2011, company’s gross profits rose by about 14 per cent to $2.559 billion, while its turnover increased by 30 per cent to $9.952 billion.
Besides Cairn India, India-based Hindustan Zinc, Sterlite, BALCO, Sesa Goa are some of the subsidiaries of Vedanta Group. The diversified group also has operations in Zambia, Namibia South Africa, Liberia, Ireland, Australia and Sri Lanka and is among FTSE-100 companies.