London-headquartered Vedanta Resources’ (VRL) gross debt has fallen 20.40% to $7.8 billion from $9.8 billion in the 12 months to March 2023. It has fallen further to $6.4 billion as of May due to continued deleveraging and “significant” improvement in balance sheet position.
VRL, the parent company of Indian mining major Vedanta, has generated Ebitda of $4.6 billion in FY23, the second-highest level, and free cash flow pre-capex of $2.8 billion (an all-time high), it said in a regulatory update.
“Going forward, we expect further improvement in our capital structure, based on the robust Ebitda and free cash flow estimates for FY24. As part of our ongoing balance sheet management, all maturities for first quarter of FY24 have been prepaid. With no significant maturities for the next six months, the group is now focused on addressing 2024 and beyond and remains fully confident that it will continue to meet all its maturities in a timely manner,” it added.
VRL also said India and parts of Africa were “exciting” growth engines. “We continue to see tremendous opportunity to capitalise upon India’s exceptional growth and it is noteworthy that demand is growing at double-digit rates for most of our products.”
VRL owns a 68% stake in minig firm Vedanta and 79% in Africa’s Konkola Copper Mines. On May 31, VRL said it raised a total of $450 million from commodities firm Trafigura Group and its rival Glencore International.
Prior to that, the company had said it pledged 4.4% of its overall holding in Vedanta to Glencore in lieu of a $250-million loan. These moves come at a time when VRL was seeking to shore up funds to trim debt.