Commodity price slump hits Vedanta Resources

LOWER commodity prices have hit profits of Anil Agarwal’s mining conglomerate.

Agarwal-led Vedanta Resources recorded a decline in earnings before interest, depreciation, taxation and amortisation fell 19 per cent to $1.4 billion in the six months to September.

The company’s revenues fell five per cent to $6.1bn, as commodity prices recorded a slump.

Vedanta said that profits in its largest business, zinc, fell by 20 per cent to $479 million during the half-year ended September.

The average zinc prices are down 10 per cent year on year.

Aluminium business recorded a $109m loss from a $118m profit a year earlier, while the prices recorded a decline of 18 per cent year on year.

Meanwhile, oil and gas profits edged higher two per cent to $249m.

Responding to the financial results, Vedanta said it had delivered a strong operational performance in a challenging environment.

It added: “The company continues to focus on controllable factors such as cost optimisation, marketing initiatives and volume.”

The latest half-year financial results exclude Vedanta’s Zambian copper venture, Konkola Copper Mines (KCM), which is subject to an ownership dispute with the Zambian government.

London-based Vedanta is the majority owner of Zambia's largest copper mining firm KCM, which has been at the centre of a standoff with the government.

The state-owned ZCCM-IH is a minority shareholder in KCM.

Zambia is Africa's second-largest copper-producing country after the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the sector is a major employer.

Vedanta Resources has operations in India, Africa, and Australia, employing 65,000 people.

The company listed in London in 2003 but is controlled by Agarwal, 65.

In 2018, Volcan Investments, his family trust, bought back the listed third of its shares.