Mining major Vedanta posted a 38% decline in net profit year-on-year for the quarter ended September 30 on the back of an exceptional loss of Rs 1,547 crore on account of write-offs and settlement expenses at its Talwandi Sabo Power plant.
Talwandi Sabo Power wrote off Rs 1,407 crore in receivables after the Supreme Court ruled against its mega power benefit claim. It also paid $75 million (~Rs 660 crore) to SEPCO under a settlement agreement, following contract termination and ongoing arbitration, both recorded as exceptional items. The impact was partially offset by exceptional gains of Rs 520 in deferred taxes.
Net profit for the quarter came in at Rs 3,479 crore as compared to Rs 5,603 crore reported in Q2FY25, and was behind Bloomberg estimates of Rs 3,630 crore.
Excluding one-time settlement and write-off costs, profit after tax (PAT) was up 13% annually at Rs 5,026 crore.
Revenue for the quarter came in at Rs 39,216 crore, up 5.5% annually, and ahead of Bloomberg estimates of Rs 38,313 crore. Ebitda for the quarter under review was Rs 11,612 crore, up 12% from the same quarter last year, also ahead of Bloomberg estimates of Rs 11,196 crore.
“Staying true to our shareholder commitment, we also declared a dividend of Rs 16 per share during the quarter. We have further improved our leverage,” Ajay Goel, CFO, Vedanta, said.
Gross debt for the quarter was Rs 83,544 crore and net debt stood at Rs 62,063 crore. Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the September quarter were Rs 21,481 crore.
Vedanta’s net debt to Ebitda ratio improved to 1.37x from 1.49x in the second quarter of FY25. The company’s return on capital employed (ROCE) improved by 347 bps y-o-y to 26%, the company said in its earnings statement.
The firm invested $0.9 billion in growth capex in the first half.
Vedanta clocked record quarterly alumina production of 653 kt, up 31% y-o-y, and cast metal aluminium production of 617 kt, up 1% y-o-y.
“Notably, BALCO produced its first metal from India’s largest 525 kA smelter. At the alumina refinery at Lanjigarh (Odisha), Vedanta produced the first alumina from the expansion project,” Vedanta said.
The company expanded merchant power capacity by 1.3 GW through Meenakshi Energy and Athena Power.
Vedanta’s zinc operations in India reported mined metal production of 258 kt, up 1% y-o-y, along with cost of production at $994/t, lower by 7% y-o-y. The company’s international zinc operations witnessed a 38% jump in mined metal production to 60 kt.
In the iron ore, steel and copper segments, iron ore production was up 48% y-o-y at 0.1 MT, pig iron production was 238 kt, up 26% y-o-y, and ore production at FACOR increased 23% y-o-y to 47 kt.
“Supported by this increased production capacity and the recovery in commodity prices, Vedanta is well positioned to deliver its best performance in FY26, with full year Ebitda surpassing the historic best Ebitda of ~$6 billion delivered in FY22,” Arun Misra, ED, Vedanta, said.
