By Ashutosh Joshi
MUMBAI--Sterlite Industries (India) Ltd. (500900.BY), a unit of
Vedanta Resources PLC (VED.LN), Tuesday reported a 75% increase in
its net profit for the second fiscal quarter, helped by higher
production of silver and lead and a foreign-exchange gain.
For the July-September period, Sterlite reported a consolidated
net profit of 17.43 billion rupees ($324.4 million), compared with
9.98 billion rupees a year earlier.
Consolidated sales rose 8.6% to 110.29 billion rupees.
Its consolidated numbers include the results of units Hindustan
Zinc Ltd. (500188.BY), Vedanta Aluminium Ltd. and Sterlite Energy
Ltd.
At Hindustan Zinc, output of zinc dropped 12% from a year
earlier to 163,000 metric tons, while that of lead rose 60% to
27,000 tons.
Sterlite's production of copper cathodes from its Indian and
Australian businesses was flat at 87,000 tons.
In its power business, Sterlite posted a 42% increase in sales
at 2,474 million kilo-watt hours.
On a stand-alone basis, or excluding the numbers from its units,
Sterlite's net profit more than doubled to 7.05 billion rupees.
Sterlite reported a foreign-exchange gain of 2.19 billion rupees
in the past quarter on a consolidated basis, while its interest
cost dropped about 25% from a year earlier to 1.78 billion
rupees.
In February, Vedanta had proposed to merge Sterlite and iron-ore
producer Sesa Goa Ltd. to simplify the group's operations in
India.
Sterlite said it expects to complete the merger by the end of
December.
Write to Ashutosh Joshi at ashutosh.joshi@dowjones.com
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