Hindalco Inds

It was a weak performance for Q4FY13 by the company on a YoY but sequentially, it was better. YoY, net profit at Rs.482 crore was down 25% and net sales were down 8.5% at Rs.6994 crore. QoQ, net profit was up 11.2% while net sales rose 2%. But at EBIDTA levels, even QoQ, the performance dropped, down 3%. The company has blamed the overall weak performance on various factors – weak aluminium prices, 10-30% average surge in inputs costs like coal, caustic soda and furnace oil. Making matters worse was its interest cost, which YoY rose 97%. Its net debt at end of FY13 stands at a whopping Rs.13,000 crore. Both its segments – aluminium as well as copper showed a decline in sales. Revenue from aluminium fell 4% (YoY) and that of copper decline 11%.

For FY13, the consolidated performance, which includes numbers of US subsidiary Novellis and Aditya Birla Minerals, showed a 11% decline in net profit at Rs.3027 crore on a net sales which was flat but on the downward trend, down 0.86% at Rs.79,705 crore. The performance of Novelis remained under pressure, was negative, due to pricing pressure and the implementation of a new ERP system in its two North American plants led to supply chain disruptions. Demand was also down which can be seen from the revenue earned by Novelis for Fy13, which was down 11%. In terms of pricing, there was an average 15% decline in price of aluminium and 2% decline in volumes of flat rolled products. Aluminium prices continue to remain weak due to lower demand and the immediate outlook for current Q1 is nothing overtly positive.