Hindalco, the Aditya Birla Group Flagship Company announced its unaudited results for the Q1 ended June 30th 2012.
Mr D Bhattacharya MD of Hindalco and vice chairman of Novelis said that “It has been an extremely challenging quarter. The LME for aluminium went down 24% YoY. This was further compounded by grid problems and the cyclonic weather at Hirakud, coupled with drought conditions at Muri. The surge in input costs such as coal, caustic soda and carbon products further pared earnings by nearly INR 200 crores. Despite this PBITDA stood at INR 765 crores. Revenue from operations was sustained at INR 6028 crores”.
Revenue from operations for the quarter was maintained at Q1 FY2012 level on the back of improved mix, better premium and mark up, despite lower volumes and realization.
During the quarter, PBITDA stood at INR 765 crore vs INR 1,045 crore in Q1FY 2012. Surge in input costs, mainly in coal, caustic soda and carbon products affected earnings by nearly INR 200 crore this quarter. Further, the operational results were also impacted due to the planned shutdown of the copper production facility and lower volumes of production due to certain operational disturbances in the Aluminium plants. These have since been taken care of and currently the operations are under full ramp up.
Other Income is inclusive of dividend received from Aditya Birla Minerals Limited the Company’s Australian subsidiary of INR 45 crore and INR 85 crore from Dahej Harbour and Infrastructure Limited, the Company’s wholly owned Indian subsidiary. Treasury income was also higher on account of a larger corpus. Finance costs rose, given the hardening of the interest rates compared to Q1FY 2012.
Business Results;
Aluminium LME has been lower by 24% vis à vis Q1FY 2012. Weaker Rupee and higher regional premium cushioned the decline substantially.
Of the total revenue of INR 6,028 crore, Aluminium Business contributed INR 2,063 crore vs. INR 2,093 crore in Q1FY 2012. Sales were maintained at last year’s level, despite lower metal production, based on increased volume and mark up of value added downstream products and higher metal premium over LME. Metal production was lower due to operational issues in both the smelters. The benefits of improved mix and mark up were nullified by macro economic factors, lower overall volume and realization and higher input cost. EBIT for the quarter was at INR 270 crore vs INR 599 crore in Q1FY 2012.
In the Copper Business, revenue was maintained at INR 3,972 crore vs INR 3,940 crore in Q1FY 2012. The performance of the Copper Business was lower due to planned shutdown undertaken in Q1FY 2013. EBIT of the Copper Business was lower at INR 76 crore in Q1FY 2013. The capital employed for Aluminium Business at INR 25,957 crore as on June 30th 2012 includes INR 17,661 crore relating to Mahan, Hirakud Rolled and Aditya Aluminium Projects. The balance pertains to the existing Aluminium operations.
Operational Review;
Aluminium - Alumina production remained flat at 335 Kilo tonne in Q1FY 2013, while metal production declined to 132 Kilo tonne vs. 140 Kilo tonne in Q1FY 2012. Temporary operational disturbances in the Aluminium smelters resulted in lower production. The value added downstream sales rose by almost 16 per cent to 58 Kilo tonne vs 50 Kilo tonne in Q1FY 2012.
Copper - Cathode production declined to 69 Kilo tonne as against 73 Kilo tonne in Q1FY 2012, on account of the shutdown in Q1FY 2013. The value added CCR production increased to 36 Kilo tonne from 34 Kilo tonne in Q1 FY 2012.
Source - Hindalco
(www.steelguru.com)
