Hindalco Industries report Rs 359.36 crore Q3 net profit

MUMBAI: Hindalco Industries reported lower-than-expected net profit of Rs 359.36 crore for the quarter ended December on standalone basis against Rs 333.98 crore in the corresponding quarter, hurt by higher fuel and finance costs.

Sales rose 18 per cent to Rs 8471.71 crore. Analysts, on an average, were expecting a profit of Rs 457.42 crore on sales of Rs 8,654.08 crore, according to a Bloomberg poll. Power & Fuel costs rose 42 per cent to Rs 1,344.33 crore, as Hindalco continues to source coal at market rates for its new smelters in Madhya Pradesh and Odisha. Finance costs almost tripled to Rs 447.47 crore with continued ramp up.

"Greenfield projects are ramping up well. But cost of production has to come down. Outlook on the aluminium sector is very hazy," said managing director Debu Bhattacharya. He said the aluminium prices on the London Metal Exchange were falling but fortunately the premium were firm. Hindalco said the ramping up of aluminium business was affected to an extent by unavailability of coal at reasonable price.