Small BusinessSterlite net up 42.5%
Sterlite Industries (India) Ltd, the country’s largest zinc producer, posted its first increase in quarterly profits in more than a year on higher zinc and aluminum prices. Consolidated net profits after exceptional items rose 42.35 per cent to Rs 731.3 crore on the back of a 49 per cent spike in gross sales for the quarter ended December 2009, the Mumbai-based company said in a statement.
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Rising demand for steel used to make air conditioners and cars is boosting sales of zinc, used to rust-proof the alloy, said analysts tracking the stock. Zinc for three-month delivery averaged $2,241 a tonne in the quarter ended December 31, up 84 per cent from $1,219 a year earlier, according to London Metal Exchange data.
The average price of aluminum, which the company also produces, was higher in the December quarter, compared with a year ago, the statement said, without giving specifics. The shares of Sterlite, a unit of London-based Vedanta Resources Plc, closed 1.9 per cent lower at Rs 802.6 on Monday on the Bombay Stock Exchange. The shares have more than tripled over the past year.
On a standalone basis, Sterlite’s net profits after exceptional items fell 77 per cent to Rs 46.6 crore during the quarter ended December 2009, from Rs 204 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. Sterlite has provided for Rs 273.5 crore for the quarter to cover a loss on the ASARCO deal, after a US bankruptcy court advised ASARCO to terminate its deal with Sterlite.