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Aluminium manufacturer Hindalco Industries has posted a 36 per cent fall in net profit at ₹ 160 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, impacted by exceptional items and higher finance costs. The Aditya Birla Group’s flagship firm had posted a net profit of ₹ 248 crore during the comparable period a year-ago.
The company had incurred an exceptional item of ₹146 crore provided towards renewable power obligations, said Hindalco Industries Managing Director Debu Bhattacharya.
The company’s quarterly net sales rose 11 per cent to ₹ 9,372 crore against ₹ 8,435 crore recorded during the same period a year ago.
“The underlining performance has been good, but there was a finance cost of about ₹466 crore against ₹215 crore posted during the previous quarter. There was also tax expense of ₹68 crore during the quarter,” said Chief Financial Officer Praveen Maheshwari.
During the quarter under review, the company's aluminium sales grew 14 per cent and that of copper was up by 5 per cent from sequential third quarter. Copper cathode production in Q4 rose to 100 kilo tonnes from 94 kilo tonnes recorded in the third quarter.
For the first time, Hindalco Industries' consolidated revenue crossed $17.1 billion (more than ₹1-lakh crore) during the year. The company, controlled by industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla, posted a net sales of ₹1,04,281 crore (₹87,695 crore) for the 12-month period ended March 31.
"This is the highest-ever topline recorded both on a consolidated and standalone basis. This means that we have achieved we had earlier planned,” Bhattacharya said.
The company, controlled by industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla, posted a quantum decline in consolidated net profit of ₹854 crore (₹2,175 crore) for FY-15.
“The net profit was lower due to higher interest cost and exceptional items, mainly relating to a sinkhole incident at one of the subsidiary companies in Australia, and change in macro-economic conditions,” Bhattacharya added.
The company had a gross debt of ₹23,000 crore in Hindalco and ₹5,000 crore in Utkal, and a treasury of about ₹7,000 crore.
Shares in Hindalco closed down 1.57 per cent at ₹132 on a weak BSE, which closed down 0.21 per cent on Thursday.
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