Hindalco Industries, an Aditya Birla Group company, on Tuesday announced a growth of 26% in net profit at Rs 433.81 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, 2010, against Rs 344.05 crore in the corresponding period last year. The company?s net sales during the quarter stood at Rs 5,802.76 crore, up 18.66% as compared to Rs 4,890.41 crore in Q2 FY 2010. ?Net sales and operating revenue during the quarter were driven by better product/geographic mix and improved realisation. Metal volumes were, however, impacted due to power outage at the Hirakud smelter, affecting production,? Hindalco said in a statement.

Shares of Hindalco were marginally up by 0.56% to close at Rs 231.70 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Hindalco?s revenues from the aluminium business during the quarter grew 16% year-on-year (y-o-y) to Rs 1,649 crore due to rise in aluminium prices on the LME. However, the appreciating rupee and lower sales volume due to Hirakud smelter outage impacted the company?s performance.

Revenues from the copper business were also higher by 21% y-o-y at Rs 3,951 crore on account of higher copper prices on the LME. The company?s PBITDA grew 17% y-o-y at Rs 780 crore benefiting from higher aluminium LME and better by-product realisation in the copper business. Profit before tax was higher by 28% at Rs 556 .05 crore against Rs 434.30 crore in Q2FY10.

The company?s production at Hirakud smelter has been affected since early July due to pot outage caused by heavy rains and lightning. ?Full start-up and stabilisation is expected in early Q4,? Hindalco said. Global aluminium demand in Q2 FY11 reflected a growth of 14% y-o-y and the company expects the demand to be good globally in Q3 FY11 as well. Meanwhile, the company on Monday also informed the BSE about breakdown of cooling tower of sulphuric acid plant-3 of copper plant at Dahej (Gujarat) resulting in disruption of production in smelter-3.

Hindalco Industries stands to lose 8,000 tonnes of copper cathode production after this breakdown.

?Indian aluminium industry enjoyed a good yoy growth of 8% in Q2 and this is expected to continue. Moreover, the outlook for major copper consuming sectors in India including power, building and construction continues to be optimistic, althoug competition from other materials and scrap may be more intense at the current elevated LME level,? the company said.