Hindalco Industries on Thursday reported strong numbers for the quarter ended March 31 when consolidated net profit doubled to Rs 3,851 crore from Rs 1,928 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year.
The record number came after consolidated revenues shot up to Rs 55,764 crore from Rs 40,507 crore in the year-ago period. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation & amortisation (EBITDA) rose to Rs 7,597 crore from Rs 5,845 crore in the same period of the previous year.
Hindalco said the results were driven by an exceptional performance by the India business. It, however, added that Novelis’s fourth quarter results were impacted by cost inflation, semi-conductor chip shortage in automotive and other short-term operational issues.
“With record profitability in the fourth quarter, we had a very good end to the year. We attribute Hindalco’s highest-ever profits not just to strong macros, but also our consistent focus on operational excellence and cost optimisation,” said Satish Pai, managing director, Hindalco Industries.
“We continue to remain one of the world’s lowest cost and highest EBITDA margin producers of aluminium. Our strategy to build a more sustainable business model that is isolated from metal cycles is working very well for us.
“In line with this, we have allocated over 70 per cent of our growth capex to value-enhancing downstream segments.”
All our growth capex for the next five years will be funded out of internal accruals.. Hindalco sees a positive horizon which inspires us to invest in future-centric growth projects’’, while commenting on the performance during the quarter and the outlook ahead.
According to the company, its arm Novelis reported quarterly adjusted EBITDA of $ 431 million ($ 505 million), a drop of 15 per cent. During the period, its net income from continuing operations was $ 217 million, up 21 per cent over the previous year, mainly driven by lower interest expenses.
On the other hand, the Indian aluminium business saw its EBITDA coming at an all-time high of Rs 4,050 crore during the quarter, compared to Rs 1,819 crore in the same period of the previous year- an increase of 123 per cent due to favourable macros, higher volumes, better operational efficiencies, and improved performance of downstream business. This was however, offset by higher input costs. Its revenues during the quarter stood at Rs 9,847 crore against Rs 5,969 crore in the same period in the previous year.
The company’s copper business saw revenues coming at Rs 9,787 crore a rise of 15 per cent on account of higher global prices of copper and higher volumes.
The board of directors today recommended a dividend of rs 4 per share (face value Re 1) for the year ended March 31, 2022.
