Vedanta Q3 PAT Jumps Over Four-Fold to Rs 1,866 Crore

Higher revenues lend strong support for 83 per cent rise in yoy EBITDA

 Vedanta Ltd today reported a lower-than-expected consolidated net profit of Rs 1,866 crore in the December quarter mainly on the back of higher net sales. The reported bottom line, however, was a more than four-fold jump from Rs 411 crore in same period last year as it hit the highest level in eight quarters.
Anil Agarwal-led
Net sales of the company stood at Rs 20,296 crore in the period under review, up 30 percent from the corresponding period last year as performance of all its businesses remained upbeat.

As per Bloombergy estimates, Vedanta's topline was seen at Rs 19,393 crore in the quarter gone by, while its net profit was expected at Rs 1,990 crore.
The company's EBITDA jumped 83 percent on a year-on-year basis to Rs 6,002 crore in the period under review on account of higher commodity prices and increased volumes at iron ore due to recommencement of operations, ramp up of volumes and cost efficiencies at the aluminium and power business along with decline in discount to Brent at Oil & Gas.
The company managed to post a much higher bottom-line line on year-on-year basis despite a forex loss of Rs 117 crore and higher tax outgo of Rs 897 crore as against Rs 49 crore in the corresponding period last year.
During the quarter, rupee depreciated by 1.9 percent, primarily on restatement of MAT assets at Oil & Gas business, informed Vedanta.
"Volume ramp-up and cost efficiencies across our operations, aided by higher commodity prices, have significantly driven up EBITDA y-o-y," the release quoted Tom Albanese, chief executive officer of Vedanta as saying. "Our financial position remains robust and we continue to strengthen our balance sheet by maximising free cash flow and reducing debt. With our focus on simplifying the group structure, the Vedanta Limited and Cairn India merger is expected to be completed in the first quarter of CY 2017," he added.
Coming to specific business verticals, company's iron ore operations achieved annual mining production cap in January and received additional mining allocation in Goa for FY2017.
In aluminium, the third line of the 1.25 mtpa Jharsuguda-II smelter commenced ramp up in December.
The company's total cash and liquid investments stood at Rs 53,452 crore as on Dec 31, 2016. Out of the total debt of Rs 64,966 crore, the INR/USD split is approximately 82%/ 18%, said the company. Further, the gross debt comprises of long term loans of Rs 62,614 crore and short term loans of Rs 2,352 crore.
Vedanta has presence in several businesses such as oil&gas, zinc, power, iron ore, aluminium, and copper. The company's consolidated earnings include earnings from Cairn India and Hindustan Zinc.

Reference - http://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/vedanta-q3-pat-jumps-over-four-fold-to-rs-1-866-crore-117021400606_1.html