Vedanta Q1 Results: Profit Falls But Meets Estimates

Vedanta Ltd.’s profit declined but met estimates in the quarter ended June, a period when local lockdowns to curb the severe second wave of Covid-19 stalled a nascent recovery in economic activities.

Net profit of the billionaire Anil Agarwal-controlled miner fell 34% sequentially to Rs 4,224 crore, according to its exchange filing. That compares with the Rs 4,186-crore consensus estimate of analysts tracked by Bloomberg.

An 11% quarter-on-quarter drop in finance costs and improved operational performance cushioned the bottom line.

Net sales remained flat at Rs 28,412 crore, against the Rs 26,821-crore forecast.

Vedanta’s earnings before interest, tax, deprecation and amortisation rose 9.3% sequentially to Rs 9,871 crore, compared with the estimated Rs 9,496 crore. That came as commodity prices rose, but was partially offset by lower sales volume of zinc, iron ore & steel and copper and higher cost of production due to input inflation.

Other Highlights

• Net debt was at Rs 20,261 crore as on June 30, 2021, down by Rs 6,989 crore over the year earlier.

• Debt fell by Rs 4,153 crore over the preceding quarter, primarily driven by cash flow from operations post capex and intercompany loan repayment from Vedanta Resources.

Segment-Wise Ebitda (QoQ)

• Zinc India registered 8.8% decline at Rs 3,508 crore.

• Zinc International saw a 99% rise at Rs 401 crore.

• Oil & gas witnessed 0.5% decline at Rs 1,064 crore.

• Aluminium clocked a 36% rise at Rs 3,725 crore.

• Power division’s operating profit more than doubled at Rs 346 crore.

• Iron ore witnessed 3.9% decline at Rs 762 crore.

• Steel division witnessed a decline of 27.5% at Rs 224 crore.

• Copper India registered Rs 106-crore operating loss versus Rs 71-crore operating loss in Q4.

Shares of Vedanta closed 1.59% higher before the results were announced compared with a 0.2% drop in the benchmark Nifty 50.