Hindustan Zinc Revenue up 8% to Rs. 2939 Crore

INDIACSR News Network
MUMBAI: Hindustan Zinc Limited (“HZL” or the “Company”) today announced its results for the first quarter ended 30 June 2013.

Mr. Agnivesh Agarwal (Chairman, Hindustan Zinc) said, “We delivered growth on all fronts in the quarter and are committed to consistently deliver superior performance and maintain our leadership position.”

Operational Performance

Mined metal production was 237,825 MT in Q1, as compared with 186,642 MT in the corresponding prior period. The increase was in line with our plan to deliver 1.0 million MT mined metal production for the year.

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Integrated production of refined zinc was up 10% y-o-y to 173,000 MT in Q1 on higher smelter utilization rate. Integrated production of refined lead was flat at 29,110 MT. Integrated saleable silver production was up 9% to 77 MT in Q1 on higher contribution from Sindesar Khurd and Zawar mines.

Financial Performance

Revenues were up 8% to Rs. 2,939 Crore, compared with the corresponding prior quarter. The increase was driven by higher sales volume and rupee depreciation, partially offset by lower metal prices. EBITDA for the quarter was Rs 1,506 Crore, up 6% on higher sales, partially offset by higher operating costs. Net profit for the quarter was up by 5% to Rs. 1,660 Crore.

The zinc metal cost of production before royalty during the quarter was Rs. 46,800 per MT ($836), 2% higher in Rupee and 1% lower in USD terms from a year ago. The increase was primarily due to lower sulphuric acid credits and higher excavation costs, partially offset by lower coal price, lower specific coal consumption and benefits of higher volume.

Liquidity and investment

The Company follows a conservative Investment Policy and invests in high quality debt instruments & debt mutual funds and fixed deposit with banks. As on 30 June 2013, the Company had cash and cash equivalents of Rs. 22,365 Crore, out of which Rs. 14,743 Crore was invested in debt mutual funds, Rs. 2,217 Crore in bonds and Rs 5,398 Crore were in fixed deposits with banks.

HZL is the world’s largest integrated producer of Zinc-Lead. It has a metal production capacity of over 1.0 million MT per annum with its primary smelter operations situated in Chanderiya, Debari and Dariba. HZL has Lead-Zinc mines in Rampura Agucha, Sindesar Khurd, Rajpura Dariba and Zawar, all in Rajasthan. The Company is a subsidiary of the NYSE listed, Sterlite Industries (India) Limited (NYSE: SLT) and London listed FTSE 100 diversified metals and mining major, Vedanta Resources plc.

Hindustan Zinc as a socially responsible corporate has a strong focus on conserving environment and saving water, is aiming to achieve ‘zero wastage’. With an eye on water conservation, the company follows ‘zero discharge’ policy at all its units and have been quite successful in significantly reducing the consumption of water in its operations. Hindustan Zinc has wind energy farms in five states with 275 MW green energy generation capacity.

The company is building a 20 million litres per day (MLD) Sewage Treatment Plant (STP), the first ever in Udaipur on ‘Design – Build – Own – Operate and Transfer’ basis. This STP project is being seen as a major step not only towards treatment of sewage but also as significant initiative towards care for the environment and conservation of water.

With an objective to bring about an improvement in the general quality of life in the rural areas, the company is also constructing 30,000 Rural Toilets in Rajasthan. The recently up-graded Vedanta Hindustan Zinc Heart Hospital has restarted the open heart surgery and is immensely benefiting the patients, particularly the BPL families. The Heart hospital was inaugurated by Shri Ashok Gehlot, Hon’ble Chief Minister, Rajasthan.