India`s Hindustan Zinc posts fourth straight quarterly profit fall
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Indian miner Hindustan Zinc on Friday reported a fourth-consecutive fall in quarterly profit, as lower sales and lower zinc prices continued to hurt.
The company's consolidated net profit fell 35.5% to 17.29 billion Indian rupees ($208.03 million) in the second quarter ended Sept. 30 from 26.80 billion rupees a year earlier.
Despite an 11% rise in the quarter and the best quarterly performance since March 2022, zinc prices are still sharply off their 2022 highs as interest rate concerns and demand from top consumer China weighed on the base metal.
Stock of the Vedanta-owned company fell 4.5% after the results to the day's low of 300.3 rupees.
Quarterly revenue declined 18.6% to 66.19 billion rupees due to lower sales and lower London Metal Exchange prices of zinc and lead, the company's largest segment.
Planned maintenance activity also hurt production, Hindustan Zinc said earlier this month.
Quarterly expenses fell 1.4% year-on-year and 5% from last quarter – decreasing sequentially for a second-straight quarter – as the cost of production before royalty (COP) and other input costs declined.
The company's annual estimate for zinc COP was unchanged at $1,125-$1,175 per metric tonne, as were its mined metal production and capital expenditure estimates.
Hindustan Zinc had said late last month that it plans to create separate entities for its zinc, lead, silver and recycling businesses to unlock "potential value."
Parent Vedanta is also planning to split into separate businesses.
