Hindalco Q4 net rises 15%

MUMBAI Hindalco Industries’ net profit for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2007, grew 15% to Rs 721.3 crore as the country’s largest metal company sold more specialty products in a firm price market, which offset the adverse impact from a rising rupee. The Aditya Birla group flagship, with interests in aluminium and copper, posted a 30% rise in revenue to Rs 4,748.9 crore. For the fiscal 2006-07, Hindalco’s net profit rose 55% to Rs 2,564.3 crore and revenue surged 61% to Rs 18,313 crore.

“Aluminium output grew faster last quarter. In copper, we had higher volumes,” MD Debu Bhattacharya said. Hindalco said one of its three copper smelters at Dahej remained suspended in fourth quarter due to costly copper concentrate. Revenue from the aluminium business grew 18% to Rs 2,042.4 crore, while that of copper was up 40% to Rs 2,711.2 crore. Of the total aluminium sales, the share of value added products was 52%.

compared to about 45% last year. Referring to the recent $6 billion acquisition of Novelis, Mr Bhattacharya said that Hindalco has secured “firm commitments of $3.1 billion bridge loan of 18 months against the corporate guarantee of the company.” Hindalco will pay $450 million from its treasury that will be financed by infusing equity or preferred stock in wholly-owned subsidiaries. “The acquisition is a synergistic extension to Hindalco’s upstream business,” said Mr Bhattacharya.

Hindalco expects the acquisition to yield benefits in the long term as global aluminium consumption is estimated to have grown by 7.2% in 2006. The main contributor to this growth has been the Asian region powered mainly by China which is estimated to have grown by 20.6%,” says the company. Going forward the demand is expected to be strong especially from China and India, it added. In copper, Hindalco expects output to fall in the near to medium term as despite capacity expansions, concentrate availability is tight.