Hindalco Industries Ltd, an Aditya Birla Group company, on Tuesday said the company’s net profit (excluding Novelis) soared 146.84% to Rs 664 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2010, against Rs 269 crore during the corresponding period last year. This was due to the rise in prices of base metals, including aluminum and copper. The company’s net sales during Q4 stood at Rs 5,404 crore, up 43.27%, as compared to Rs 3,772 crore in Q4 FY 2009.

The company said the results for the quarter and full-year included a one-time charge of Rs 113.17 crore (net) compared with Rs 150.83 crore for the same period last year, towards tax adjustments for earlier years. Excluding this, net profit for the quarter was Rs 550.75 crore, up by 367% from Rs 117.93 crore for the same period last year.

Due to early adoption of AS-30, the figures of the current periods are not comparable with corresponding periods in the previous year, the company informed. “The growth in topline was driven by better mix and realisation. Moreover, benefits of timely low-cost brownfield expansions and continuous stretching of productive capacities helped substantially mitigate the adversity of higher coal price in aluminium business and lower by-product credit in copper business. This is reflected in the strong Ebidta growth of 166% over Q4FY09,” Hindalco said.

When asked about the capex on the companies greenfield projects, Debu Bhattacharya MD, Hindalco Industries told FE, ?The Utkal Alumina project will require about Rs 5,600 crore. The company has raised most of the amount required from the consortium of banks and will make the closure within a weeks time. The debt to equity ratio is 70:30 for the project,? he adds.

Havells India Q4 profit up

Havells India on Tuesday said net profit rose 31% to Rs 64.40 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2010, over the same period last year. Net sales of the company rose to Rs 700.15 crore in the January-March 2010 quarter from Rs 573.62 crore in the same period a year ago, Havells India said.

?The company had an excellent period of growth across all its business segments, led by improved margins and sound volume growth. We expect the trend to continue,? Havells India joint MD Anil Gupta said.

For the year ended March 31, 2010, the company has reported a net profit of Rs 227.10 crore, up 56% from the same period of the previous fiscal. Shares of Havells India on Tuesday closed at Rs 613.65 on the BSE, down 0.13% from previous close.

Bajaj Hindusthan?s net dips

Bajaj Hindusthan on Tuesday reported 61% decline in net profit at Rs 31.79 crore for the second quarter ended March 31, 2010. In the same period of the last fiscal, the firm had posted a net profit of Rs 81.39 crore.

The company’s total income, however, grew by 22% to Rs 631.95 crore during January-March 2010 compared to Rs 515.93 crore in the corresponding period of previous fiscal, Bajaj Hindusthan said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Aviva Q1 sales dip 5%

British insurer Aviva reported a decline of 5% in life and pensions sales to 9.13 billion pounds ($13.48 billion) in the three-month period ending March 31, 2010, though growth in Asia was robust. The company registered sales of 9.56 billion pounds from life and pension operations in the corresponding period of the previous year, Aviva said in a statement. In the Asia-Pacific region, life and pension business rose 26% from the same period a year ago to 409 million pounds during the January-March period of 2010, mainly on account of growth in China and Hong Kong. ” The company’s life and pension business in India grew by 9% from the year-ago period to 37 million pounds, which was double against the previous quarter.