Vedanta’s Quarterly Profits Drop 61%

Vedanta Ltd. reported a 61% fall in its consolidated net profits to INR 18.1bn ($220mn) for the quarter ending September. While revenues rose by 20% YoY to INR 374bn ($4.5bn), it also witnessed a sharp rise in expenses to INR 332bn ($4bn), up 43% YoY. Higher depletion charges in oil & gas and amortization at Zinc India, a windfall tax and weaker commodity prices during the quarter, particularly in its aluminum unit contributed to the weakness in its results. Net debt stood rose by 20% over the previous quarter to INR 321bn ($3.9bn) as of end-September and its cash and balances were at INR 264.5bn ($3.2bn). The Indian conglomerate said that its net debt-to-EBITDA was maintained at a “low level” at 0.7x.

Vedanta’s dollar bonds were trading lower – its 8.95% 2025s were down 0.7 points to trade at 66.34 cents on the dollar.