Hindustan Zinc Ltd has reported a ₹2,545-crore net profit for the second quarter of financial year 2017-18. According to the company, the net profit is 34 per cent higher than the bottomline in the corresponding period of the last financial year.

However, the company’s Earnings before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortization (Ebitda) stood at ₹3,052 crore. This was 47 per cent higher during the quarter under consideration compared with the same quarter of financial year 2016-17.

The company said that this was on the back of higher metal production and strong London Metal Exchange prices. Silver production was also at all-time high, the statement added.

Chairman, HZL, Agnivesh Agarwal said, “The accelerating LME and record silver volumes are key drivers of our performance this quarter, though the higher commodity cycle is putting some pressure on our cost.”

The Ebitda boost, too, could not be transmitted to the bottomline. “The substantial year-on-year increase in Ebitda was partly offset by higher tax rate and lower investment income on account of smaller corpus, in line with the guidance,” the statement said.

The company’s board of directors has declared an interim dividend of 100 per cent, that is, ₹2 per share on equity shares of ₹2 each. The record date fixed for the interim dividend is October 31.

As on September 30, the company’s cash and cash equivalents were ₹19,979 crore invested in debt instruments. It also had ₹593 crore of residual short-term commercial paper out of ₹7,908 crore raised in March 2017 to meet the special interim dividend fund requirement, the statement added.

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