Vedanta Year Profit Slides 75%, Dividend Steady

India-focused mining group Vedanta Resources posted a 75% drop in attributable profit on Thursday after commodity prices slid, but the London-listed firm kept its final dividend unchanged.
"We have responded decisively to current market conditions and remain very well placed to prosper through the commodity cycle," said chairman Anil Agarwal.
"With strong volume growth, high-quality assets and continued progress in cost reduction, we are confident of delivering another year of profitable growth and strong free cash flows."
The company - which has operations in India, Australia and Zambia - has cash and liquid investments of $4.9bn and net debt of $200m.
Costs declined in the second half of the fiscal year and at the Zambian copper operations they fell by more than half from 293 cents per pound in the first half to 140 cents in March.
Vedanta posted an attributable profit of $219.4m for the fiscal year to end-March, down from $879m in the previous year and less than the average forecast of $294m given by six analysts surveyed by Reuters Estimates.
Its two most profitable divisions were zinc and iron ore, accounting for 38% and 35% of earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA).
Vedanta, which also produces copper and aluminium, said overall EBITDA fell 46.5% to $1.61bn, higher than the forecast of $1.55bn, while revenue declined 20% to $6.58bn.
Despite the weaker bottom line, Vedanta proposed a final dividend of 25 cents a share, the same as the previous year, bringing the total dividend to 41.5 cents.
Vedanta shares, which have outperformed the UK mining index by 50% this year, closed on Wednesday at 1,230 pence.