Hindalco Industries expects production to start at its Utkal and Mahan plants by April, Managing Director Debu Bhattacharya told reporters after announcing the December quarter results here on Friday.
The aluminium and copper producer, part of the diversified Aditya Birla Group, is setting up an alumina plant at Utkal, which will feed the Mahan plant, which will manufacture aluminium.
Hindalco is in the midst of trebling aluminium capacity to 1.9 million tonnes by 2013 at a cost of about $5 billion.
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Earlier on Friday, Hindalco beat estimates with a quarterly net profit of Rs.430 crore in the quarter ended December 31, 2012, down 4 per cent from a year earlier. Net sales rose 3 per cent to Rs.6,790 crore from Rs. 6,590.23 crore in the year-ago period.
Company’s revenues from aluminium business were down nearly 1 per cent to Rs.2,215.45 crore, while that from copper business were up 5.49 per cent at Rs.4,660.84 crore.
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In the third quarter of 2011-12, the company reported Rs.2,236.19 crore revenues from aluminium and Rs.4,418.15 crore revenues from copper.
Besides, its finance costs zoomed nearly 113 per cent to Rs.168.98 crore, while other income rose nearly 3.5 times to Rs.318.08 crore
Cadila Healthcare
Cadila Healthcare reported a 31.03 per cent dip in its consolidated net profit at Rs.102.91 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2912, mainly on account of increase in the cost of materials consumed.
The group had posted a net profit of Rs.149.21 crore after taxes, minority interest and share of profits/loss of the associates, in the same quarter of last fiscal. Net sales, however, rose to Rs.1,594.20 crore from Rs.1,373.64 crore. The cost of materials consumed rose to Rs.398.45 crore from Rs.249.01 crore.
Pfizer
Pfizer has reported a net profit of Rs.63.88 crore in the quarter ended December 31, 2012, mainly on account of gain on sale of investment, against Rs.48.28 crore in the corresponding period in the previous fiscal. Net sales stood at Rs.229.78 crore against Rs.251.88 crore.
The company has transferred on December 7, 2012, its 100 per cent ownership in the wholly-owned subsidiary Pfizer Animal Pharma Pvt. Ltd. to Pfizer Animal health India Ltd., a 100 per cent indirect subsidiary of Pfizer Inc., for a consideration of Rs.471.60 crore, Pfizer said.
“The gain on sale of investment of Rs.3,160 lakh is disclosed as exceptional item for the current quarter,” it added.
Tata Chemicals
Tata Chemicals maintained its net profit at Rs.224.07 crore (Rs.223.78 crore) for the third quarter of 2012-13.
On a consolidated basis, the company’s income grew 10 per cent at Rs.4,197 crore during the quarter.
The company’s profit before tax for the period grew 8 per cent to Rs.345.5 crore.
Addressing a press conference, R. Mukundan, Managing Director, said the company’s performance was impacted by “some headwinds in Kenya and the U.K. but demand for soda ash in India and the U.S. was good.’’
Mr. Mukundan said the continued outstanding of fertilizer subsidies had created working capital pressures. “These are at Rs.1,496 crore but on the whole we remain positive on recent fertilizer policy announcements.’’
Mr. Mukundan said fertilizer prices had been kept depressed for too long. “For farmers, the issue is availability and not price and there is overuse of urea because of the low price.”