(ANI) The shares of Vedanta on Friday rose 6.5 per cent to ₹321 a piece on the BSE. In a span of five days, the mining company had rallied nearly 14 per cent on the back of company's earnings announcement and heavy volumes.
The company last week had announced an expansion of rolled-product capacity at Balco from the existing 50 KTPA to 180 KTPA at a revised cost of ₹595 crore. With the completion of this project, Balco will be placed in high-premium product segment. It also said the expansion of Balco smelter capacity from an existing capacity of 580 KTPA to 994 KTPA by way of an expansion project of 414 KTPA smelter, at a revised cost of ₹8,094 crore, subject to requisite government approvals.
The Mumbai-headquartered had announced revenue during the second quarter with a 20.6 per cent growth to ₹36,237 crore from ₹30,048 crore reported a year ago. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (Ebitda) decreased by 24 per cent to ₹8,038 crore on account of input commodity inflation and lower output commodity prices; partially offset by improved operational performance, hedging gains and foreign exchange gains.
During the earnings announcement, Sunil Duggal, Chief Executive Officer, Vedanta, had said "I am pleased to share that we have generated strong free cash flow (pre capex) of ₹8,369 crore underpinned by robust operational and financial performance. I am also happy to inform that Vedanta has entered into the club of top 10 Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) ranked global metals and mining companies; ranking sixth globally.
The holding company of India's Vedanta -- Vedanta Resources -- had terminated Moody's rating services. Moody's on October 31 had downgraded the corporate family rating of Vedanta Resources to B3 from B2 and senior unsecured bonds rating to Caa1 from B3. While downgrading, Moody's highlighted that Vedanta was yet to find a source of funding for its $900-million bond maturities due in April and May 2023.
On Wednesday, the global diversified natural resources company secured a coveted spot among the top 10 global metal and mining companies by ranking sixteenth out of 216 companies globally (98th percentile) and second in Asia Pacific by S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment 2022, formerly known as Dow Jones Sustainability Index - DJSI.
The shares of the company on Friday closed 6.5 per cent up at 322.60 apiece on the BSE.