Crimped margins following higher input costs, falling sales and higher interest outgo pulled down the standalone net profit of Hindalco Industries by 24.68 percent to Rs 482 crore in the fourth quarter ended March 31.
Weak aluminium prices on the London Metal Exchange, rising input costs and smelter disruption put pressure on the bottomline of the Aditya Birla Group's flagship firm, Hindalco Managing Director D Bhattacharya told reporters here.
The input costs like coal, caustic soda and furnace oil were higher by 10-30 percent compared to the previous year, he said.
However, existing operations have stabilised after setback in H1 of last fiscal. The company reported sequential improvement in margins in both Q3 and Q4 numbers, he said.
Net sales were down 8.5 percent at Rs 6,994 crore during Q4 compared to Rs 7,647 crore a year ago as both the business segments of the company, aluminium and copper, reported decline in revenues.
While the gross revenues from aluminium was down 4.10 percent to Rs 2,396.09 crore in the last quarter, copper revenues declined by 10.63 percent to Rs 4,606.65 crore.
Besides, its finance costs increased nearly 97 percent to Rs 157.67 crore.
For the full year (FY13), the metals producer reported an over 24 per cent drop in standalone net profit to Rs 1,699.20 crore from Rs 2,237.20 crore in FY12. Standalone net sales declined to 2.16 per cent to Rs 25,784.31 crore.
On a consolidated basis, Hindalco's net profit fell 10.89 percent at Rs 3,026.89 crore in FY13 from Rs 3,396.95 crore of FY12. Consolidated net sales also declined marginally by 0.86 per cent to Rs 79,705.51 crore in the last fiscal.
The consolidated results included performances of Novelis Inc, its US subsidiary, and Aditya Birla Minerals. Hindalco said it has employed capital of Rs 31,942 crore in aluminium business as on March 2013, which includes around Rs 22,500 crore relating to the greenfield investments in Mahan, Hirakud flat rolled products and Aditya Aluminium projects.
The company has planned capital expenditure of Rs 10,000 crore in FY 14, Bhattacharya said. The performance of its wholly-owned subsidiary Novelis was negatively impacted by pricing pressure from competitors, supply chain disruptions due to implementation of a new ERP system in its two North American plants as well as production challenges and softer demand, he said.
Shipments of flat products of Novelis were marginally lower at 2,786 KT for the year ended March 2013 as compared to 2,838 KT in FY12. Net sales were 11 percent lower primarily due to a 15 percent decline in average aluminium prices and a fall in flat rolled products volumes by 2 percent. Commenting on future growth plans, Bhattacharya said despite LME prices at consistently depressed levels, the long-term prospects for aluminium is bright in both local as well as international markets.
