Copyright Reuters
The company's consolidated profit before tax and exceptional items rose 21.7% from a year earlier to 70.14 billion rupees ($798 million) in the quarter ended September 30. Sign up here. Its operating profit margin rose to 22% from 20%, aided by steady expenses. The benchmark three-month aluminium and copper rose 8.2% and 5.6% on-year during the quarter due to uncertainty around U.S. trade policies. Higher commodity prices tend to support selling prices and margins for mining companies. The miner's total revenue rose 5.5% to 392.18 billion rupees. Vedanta's aluminium business is the biggest in India and contributes to nearly 40% of the company's revenue. Zinc is the second-biggest business, followed by copper. Revenue from the aluminium segment rose 14%, copper gained 3.6%, while its India zinc, lead and silver segment grew 3.5%. Total expenses rose 0.8% to 334.49 billion rupees. The company reported a net exceptional expense of 20.67 billion rupees, which included a write-off of 14.07 billion rupees and a settlement payment of 6.60 billion rupees. ($1 = 87.8950 Indian rupees) Reporting by Anuran Sadhu in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala
