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Informist, Thursday, Jun. 12, 2025

 

By Narayana Krishna

 

HYDERABAD – India's eight metals and mining companies that are a part of the Nifty 200 delivered a mixed earnings performance for the March quarter, with some companies managing to beat the Street's estimates while some missed. Improved realisations and sustained demand in non-ferrous segments such as aluminium drove the performance of companies with aluminium manufacturing operations, while ferrous companies showed a mixed trend.

 

The eight metal companies reported a cumulative on-year growth of 40.31% in net profit after adjusting exceptional items, below the consensus estimate of 45.46%. These companies, which include three Nifty 50, two Nifty 100, and three Nifty 100 constituents, reported a 5.14% on-year growth in revenue against the consensus estimate of 1.27% of the sector.

 

The adjusted net profit growth of these metals and mining companies saw huge fluctuations over the previous three quarter. While cumulative net profit growth was much higher than 4.88% rise in the December quarter, it was below the September quarter net profit growth of 76.66%.

 

For the March quarter, out of eight metal companies, seven reported an increase in net profit excluding exceptional items, while one reported a net loss. Five companies reported growth in net sales, while three reported a decline.

 

Of the eight companies under review, Hindalco Industries Ltd. and Hindustan Zinc Ltd. beat net profit estimates and reported strong growth in adjusted net profit. On the other hand, Vedanta Ltd. missed analysts' expectations of net profit. JSW Steel Ltd., Steel Authority of India Ltd. and Tata Steel Ltd. reported better operating performance but missed the Street view on net profit. JSW Steel and NMDC Ltd. reported lower-than-expected profit numbers.

 

ALUMINIUM LEADS

Among metals companies' operations, the aluminium segment showed strong momentum which drove these companies' sales and net profit figures for the March quarter. Higher domestic demand and better pricing helped aluminium companies post better growth for the quarter individually, but below the estimates. On an aggregate basis, two aluminium companies--Hindalco Industries and Vedanta--together reported a 15% rise in net sales against the estimate of 9.73%, while net profit excluding exceptional items rose 84.65% on year, beating the estimates of 82.22%.

 

Besides aluminium, both companies have exposure to other metals like copper and iron ore. Hindalco's March quarter consolidated net profit after adjusting exceptional items jumped 66.26% on year against analysts' estimates of 43.61% growth, boosted by domestic demand and higher price realisation. However, Vedanta's adjusted net profit growth was 121.85% on year, against the estimate of 172% for the quarter.

 

Hindalco's March quarter robust performance was aided by its aluminium upstream business in India, complemented by strong growth in the downstream business. The company's US arm, Novelis, also reported good performance for the quarter, led by beverage can shipments. Hindalco's copper segment reported stable sales aided by value-added products during the quarter.

 

Though Vedanta's net profit was lower than estimates, a sharp growth in the aluminium segment, complemented by strong growth in zinc, lead and silver, helped the company to report better numbers. High prices of aluminium and cost controls helped Vedanta to increase its aluminium segment's earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation by 2.6% on year.

 

PAIN IN STEEL

Among steel companies, Tata Steel and Steel Authority of India reported better adjusted net profit growth, but missed the Street's expectations. Of eight companies in the metals and mining sector, four steel companies reported an aggregate on-year growth of 7.67% in adjusted net profit for the March quarter while net sales fell 1.96%.

 

Tata Steel's top line performance in the March quarter was better than expected but overall realisations were weak, with EBITDA per tonne fell to INR 7,180 in the March quarter from INR 8,735 a year ago.

 

Hit by a provisioning of INR 12.29 billion made towards the diminution in value of investment in Australia, Jindal Steel and Power reported a loss of INR 3.39 billion in Jan-Mar against a profit of INR 9.35 billion a year ago, but the reported figure was better than the analysts' estimate.

 

JSW Steel's adjusted net profit for the March quarter was up 19% on year, but below the Street's estimates. However, this was the first time in five quarters that JSW Steel has posted on-year growth in net profit, led by higher output, and lower raw material costs. JSW Steel's revenue for the quarter fell 3.13%, slightly lower than the estimate of 3.33?ll. Sales realisation was weak for the company but it reported 12% on-year rise in its crude steel production for the quarter.

 

Steel Authority of India's net profit and sales performance for the March quarter was better than estimates. The company reported a 20.23?ll in adjusted net profit against analysts' estimate of 30?ll. SAIL's March quarter volumes were up 16% on year, helping the company to post 5% on-year growth in revenues against the estimate of a 3.1?ll.

 

Mining major NMDC missed the net profit estimates due to price cuts and a fall in realisations. The company recorded a 0.29% on-year rise in adjusted net profit, while sales were up 7.4% in the March quarter, against the estimate of 3.5%. NMDC sold 12.7 million tonnes of iron ore during the quarter, marking a 1% on-year growth in volumes. The company lost nearly 15 days of production during the quarter due to workers' unrest in Chhattisgarh, impacting the overall performance. The company's average realisation for the quarter declined to INR 5,007 per tonne from INR 5,125 a year ago.

 

The following table shows the performance of the eight companies in the metals and mining sector vis-a-vis the consensus estimate for each company as well as against the consensus estimate for the metals and mining sector and the Nifty 200 index:

Company	PAT beat analysts' estimate	Adjusted PAT growth %	Adjusted PAT growth estimate %	PAT beat sector estimate	PAT beat Nifty 200 estimate	Revenue beat analysts' estimate	Revenue growth %	Revenue growth estimate %	Revenue beat sector estimate	Revenue beat Nifty 200 estimate
Metals & Mining		40.31	45.46				5.14	1.27
Nifty 200			0.8					5.2
Hindalco Industries	Yes	66.26	43.61	Yes	Yes	Yes	15.89	10.22	Yes	Yes
Hindustan Zinc	Yes	45.74	28.80	Yes	Yes	Yes	19.75	14.79	Yes	Yes
Jindal Steel and Power	No	-4.85	4.28	No	No	Yes	-2.25	-10.68	No	No
JSW Steel	No	19.09	38.44	No	No	Yes	-3.13	-3.33	No	No
NMDC	No	0.29	26.84	No	Yes	Yes	7.38	3.48	No	No
Steel Authority of India	Yes	-20.23	-30.68	No	No	Yes	4.86	-3.06	No	No
Tata Steel	Yes	40.09	76.29	Yes	Yes	Yes	-4.21	-5.48	No	No
Vedanta	No	121.85	171.73	Yes	Yes	Yes	13.93	8.95	Yes	Yes

 

The following table shows the profit margins of the eight metals and mining sector companies that are a part of the Nifty 200.

 

	PAT Margin for Mar-25	PAT Margin for Mar-24	PAT Margin for Dec-24
Nifty 200	12.40	12.28	11.86
Metals & Mining Sector	7.01	5.25	6.47
Company	PAT Margin for Mar-25	PAT Margin for Mar-24	PAT Margin for Dec-24
Hindalco Industries	8.13%	5.67%	6.47%
Hindustan Zinc	32.92%	27.05%	30.94%
Jindal Steel and Power	6.75%	6.94%	8.09%
JSW Steel	3.45%	2.81%	1.98%
NMDC	21.52%	23.04%	29.76%
Steel Authority of India	4.12%	5.41%	0.40%
Tata Steel	3.01%	2.05%	0.84%
Vedanta	8.61%	4.42%	9.07%

End

 

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

 

Edited by Tanima Banerjee

 

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