($1 = 82.5080 Indian rupees) (Reporting by Ashish Chandra in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza)
BENGALURU, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Hindalco Industries , one of India's largest producers of aluminium and
copper, reported a bigger-than-expected 63% drop in quarterly
profit on Thursday, hurt by higher costs and a fall in aluminium
prices.
Benchmark London Metal Exchange aluminium have
fallen off the record highs hit in early 2022, sliding over 15%
slide so far into this year due to factors such as the
Russia-Ukraine conflict, recessionary fears and China's
zero-covid policy.
Hindalco, owned by conglomerate Aditya Birla Group, said
consolidated net profit fell to 13.62 billion rupees ($165
million) in the third quarter ended Dec. 31, from 36.75 billion
rupees a year earlier.
Analysts, on average, had expected profit to decrease to
17.05 billion rupees, according to Refinitiv IBES data.
Novelis, Hindalco's U.S. unit and the world's largest
producer of rolled aluminium products, on Monday, reported a 33%
fall in core profit for the December-quarter due to higher costs
and inventory destocking in the beverage packing market.
The profit contribution from Novelis, which accounts for
almost 42% of Hindalco's total profit, dropped 25% in the
quarter.
Profit at Hindalco's aluminium upstream segment, which
includes bauxite and coal mining, more than halved. The business
is the second biggest profit contributor.
The Mumbai-based company, which has 50 plants across 10
countries, said revenue from operations climbed 5.7% to 531.51
billion rupees due to high volumes.
But that was more than negated by a roughly 15% jump in
total expenses, with power and fuel cost surging 53.8%.
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