Vedanta Resources said Monday that third quarter revenues were $1,760.4 million, up 80.6% compared to the corresponding quarter last year, driven by higher volumes and better price realisations.
EBITDA achieved a record high of $724.3 million in Q3 and $2,014.8 million in the nine months ended Dec. 31, 2006, representing an increase of 173.7% quarter-on-quarter and 235.2% year-to date, the company said.
Production across all metals in India was significantly higher than the preceding quarter and in the corresponding prior quarter mainly because of contribution from newly commissioned projects.
Production at the new Korba II smelter has fully stabilised and reached its full capacity, after the temporary disruption of pots in May last year due to the tripping of the power plant.
The plant produced over 61,000 tonnes of cast metal this quarter compared to 44,000 tonnes in the immediately preceding quarter, equivalent to an annual capacity of 245,000tpa.
The existing smelters at BALCO and MALCO produced about 37,000 tonnes this quarter, in line with their rated capacity.
The captive power plant at Korba continues to operate satisfactorily and has achieved its highest level of generation in the current quarter, which had a positive impact on costs, the company said.
Q3 revenues were $279.7 million as compared with $117.0 million in the corresponding period last year on account of higher volumes and better price realisations. The company said it continues to develop the export market, mainly in South East Asia and the Middle East, supported by additional volumes from the new smelter.
Q3 EBITDA was $128.8 million, an increase of 301.2% over the corresponding prior quarter.
Unit cash costs in both plants of BALCO have improved over the immediately preceding quarter mainly due to higher production volumes and reduced power costs, which offset increases in other input costs. The decline in global alumina prices has started having a positive impact on costs.
Vedanta has obtained the LME registration for the aluminium ingots of the new Korba smelter under the brand "BHARATAL".
Copper cathode production in India and Australia during the quarter was the highest ever at 86,000 tonnes an increase of 6,000 tonnes from the immediately preceding quarter mainly due to the debottlenecking initiatives at the Tuticorin smelter, which has increased capacity to 400,000 tpa.
Production is being steadily ramped up and the company expects to realise rated capacity volumes in the fourth quarter. Mined metal production at its Australian mines of about 7,000 tonnes is almost at the same level as the corresponding prior period.
Q3 revenues were $717.5 million as compared with $448.0 million in the corresponding prior period, primarily due to higher volumes and higher metal prices.
Q3 EBITDA was $92.4 million as compared with $56.9 million in the corresponding prior quarter, an increase of 62.4% due to higher volumes, improved TCRC realisation and higher LME prices.
As reported earlier, the reduction in TCRC realisations has started having a negative impact on EBITDA due to global softening and the company expects further reduction in TCRCs in the fourth quarter
The Indian copper operations have been awarded the "Best performance award in non-ferrous metals" by the Indian Institute of Metals. It has also won the Corporate Silver Award for Manufacturing Excellence in the Metals Category (Large Facilities) at the India Manufacturing Excellence Awards 2006 awarded by Frost & Sullivan.
In Zambia, KCM produced 35,000 tonnes of copper cathode in the quarter as compared with 31,000 tonnes in the immediately preceding quarter but lower than our expectations.
Cathode production at the leaching plant and mining production from Nchanga were affected by unforeseen environmental issues.
While these issues have now been satisfactorily resolved, steady and cautious steps ar
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