Hindalco Industries net falls on high raw material, tax

Hindalco Industries Ltd, the flagship company of Aditya Birla Group, reported a 9.6 per cent fall in net profit for the quarter ended 31 March 2012, impacted by higher costs of raw materials, tax payouts and a fall in aluminum prices. 

The aluminum and copper producer's net profit fell to Rs640 crore, compared with Rs708 crore posted during the same period last year. Its net sales rose to Rs7,647 crore, up by about 12 per cent from Rs6,846 crore posted a year ago. 

Net profit for the quarter is marginally lower than that of the corresponding quarter in the previous year due to lower provisioning for taxation in fourth quarter of FY11 on account of lower effective tax and tax write-back, the company said in a statement.

There has been significant increase in input costs like that of coal, which went up by 20 per cent, furnace oil (by 40 per cent), caustic soda (by 25 per cent) and carbon (30 per cent. The cost surge was partly offset by asset-sweating and improving operational efficiencies, coupled with better realisation. 

The capital employed for aluminium business at Rs23,912 crore as on 31 March 2012 includes Rs16,211 crore on Mahan, Hirakud Rolled and Aditya Aluminium Projects, which are at various stages of completion. The balance largely pertains to the existing aluminium operations.

In the copper business, revenues stood at Rs17,575 crore compared to Rs15,902 crore in FY11, due to higher London Metal Exchange and by-product revenue.