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 slumped 63% to 13.62 billion rupees ($165 million) in the third quarter ended Dec. 31. Analysts, on average, had expected a profit of 17.05 billion rupees, according to Refinitiv IBES data. Hindalco, which operates in 10 countries, said revenue from operations climbed 5.7% to 531.51 billion rupees, but that was more than negated by a roughly 15% jump in total expenses. Moreover, the profit from Novelis, Hindalco's U.S. unit, and the company's aluminium upstream segment also fell. However, despite volatile commodity prices, the company expects current-quarter results to be better due to lower coal costs and improved demand for both aluminium and copper, Satish Pai, managing director, said in a post-results press conference. "We are quite confident Q4 will be much better than Q3." Novelis, the world's largest producer of rolled aluminium products, on Monday, reported a 95% slump in quarterly profit 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 more than halved at Hindalco's aluminium upstream segment, which includes bauxite and coal mining and is the second-biggest profit contributor. Pai also repeated his "big concern" on aluminium imports from China and added that Russian aluminium was also finding its way into Asia.
($1 = 82.5080 Indian rupees) (Reporting by Ashish Chandra in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza)
