Vedanta Q4 net profit falls 27% to ₹1,369 crore

Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta Ltd on Thursday reported a 27.2 per cent decline in consolidated net profit to ₹1,369 crore for the March quarter on account of a one-time impairment of Tuticorin asset.

The company had posted a consolidated net profit of ₹1,881 crore in the year-ago period, Vedanta said in a filing to the BSE.

The consolidated income of the company in the January-March period dropped to ₹36,093 crore as against ₹38,635 crore in the year-ago period.

"Driven by operational excellence, Vedanta achieved outstanding financial results, marking the second highest annual revenue and EBITDA in our history, reaching ₹1,41,793 crore and ₹36,455 crore, respectively.

"Through continued cost optimisation, we achieved a remarkable EBITDA margin of 30 per cent in FY24 with 240 basis points annual margin expansion, underscoring our efficiency and agility," Vedanta Chief Financial Officer Ajay Goel said.

Vedanta Executive Director Arun Misra said over phone that a drop in net profit was due to a couple of accounting charges totalling about ₹1,000 crore because of a mark down on Tuticorin and ESL Steel assets.

In 2023-24, the consolidated revenue dropped 2 per cent to ₹1,41,793 crore on account of lower commodity prices partially offset by higher volume across businesses and favourable exchange rate movement.

In FY24, the depreciation and amortisation increased 2 per cent because of rise in ore production at Zinc India and increased capitalisation in aluminum.

In a statement, the company said in FY24, the finance cost increased 52 per cent to ₹9,465 crore, due to increase in average borrowings and cost of borrowings.

"In the fourth quarter of FY24, there was an exceptional loss of ₹201 crore, due to impairment charges of ₹994 crore majorly at Tuticorin, partially offset by capital creditors written back in the power sector of ₹793 crore," Vedanta said in a release.

As on March 31, 2024, Vedanta's gross debt was at ₹71,759 crore.

Vedanta Ltd, a subsidiary of Vedanta Resources, is a diversified global natural resources company with operations in oil and gas, zinc, lead, silver, copper, iron ore, steel, aluminium and power across India, South Africa and Namibia.