Hindalco Industries, an Aditya Birla Group company, has posted a 62.9% fall in consolidated net profit to Rs 1,362 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, impacted by elevated input costs, unfavourable macro environment and inflationary pressures. In comparison, the company had posted a net profit of Rs 3,675 crore for the same quarter of the previous fiscal.
The aluminium and copper manufacturer posted a 5.7% rise in consolidated revenue to Rs 53,151 crore from Rs 50,272 crore recorded in the year-ago period. During the quarter under review, Hindalco’s consolidated Ebitda fell 48.45% to Rs 3,930 crore from Rs 7,624 crore recorded a year ago.
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A consensus estimate of Bloomberg analysts was expecting the firm to post a consolidated net profit of Rs 1,841.30 crore, revenue of Rs 52,492.50 crore and Ebitda of Rs 4,973.30 crore.
“The Indian businesses performed quite well during this quarter, but on the other hand Novelis (US subsidiary) had a tough quarter with lower Ebitda due to lower aluminium prices and lower shipments. Novelis witnessed unprecedented inflationary pressures, unfavourable foreign exchange rates and lower shipments, and this was partially offset by higher pricing and a favourable product mix,” Hindalco Industries managing director Satish Pai said in an interaction.
In Q3, Novelis’ total shipments of flat rolled products were at 908 kilo tonne (KT), down 2.37% from 930 KT posted during the same quarter of last financial year. This was on account of inventory reduction by can customers, but was partially offset by higher shipments of automotive and aerospace products. Novelis’ Q3 revenue was down 3% at $4.2 billion (from $4.3 billion) and Ebitda fell 33% to $341 million ($506 million in Q3 FY22).
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“We have started seeing improvements from January and expect the fourth quarter and FY24 to be good on rising supply and demand. I think the worst is over for both Novelis and India businesses,” Pai added.
Aluminium upstream revenue was Rs 8,046 crore in Q3, up from Rs 8,019 crore in the year-ago period, while aluminium upstream Ebitda stood at Rs 1,591 crore, down 52% from Rs 3,309 crore posted in the year-ago quarter. The Ebitda was impacted by higher input costs and unfavourable macros.
In Q3, revenue from the copper business rose 1% to Rs 10,309 crore, on account of higher volumes. Ebitda for the copper business rose 40% to Rs 546 crore, compared with Rs 390 crore in Q3, on back of stable operations, higher volumes and realisations.
The company had earlier provided a capital ependiture guidance of Rs 2,500-2,700 crore for the India business, which would be utilised during the year. The capex for FY24 will be “slightly higher”, he added.
