India's Vedanta posts 41% slump in Q1 profit on soft metal prices

BENGALURU, July 21 (Reuters) - Indian metals-to-oil conglomerate Vedanta (VDAN.NS) reported a 40.8% plunge in first-quarter profit on Friday, as weak commodity prices outweighed a slight increase in production and sales for metals like aluminium.

Consolidated profit after tax declined to 33.08 billion rupees ($403.55 million) for the three months ended June 30, from 55.92 billion rupees in the year earlier, the company led by billionaire Anil Agarwal said in a statement.

Aluminium prices have fallen 47% from a record high in March last year, while zinc prices are down about 37% from their August highs.

Vedanta said total aluminium sales rose 2% in the first-quarter, as did production for the metal in the same period.

The companys quarterly revenue from operations fell 12.8% to 333.42 billion rupees. The share of revenue from its mainstay aluminium business contracted to 35.7% from 38% from a year ago.

Separately, the company approved 13.05 billion rupees as capital expenditure for the Sijimali bauxite block secured from an auction by the government in the eastern Indian state of Odisha.

Vedanta said mining at the block, which has estimated reserves of 311 million tonnes of bauxite, was expected to start in the third-quarter of financial year 2025.

Shares of the company closed 6.2% higher ahead of the results.

Earlier in the day, Vedanta Group-owned Hindustan Zinc (HZNC.NS) reported a decline in first-quarter profit, hurt by weak zinc and lead prices.

($1 = 81.9724 Indian rupees)