Hindustan Zinc shares in focus ahead of Q4 results on Friday, April 21. Earnings preview, timing & more

Hindustan Zinc is likely to report up to 20 per cent year-on-year (YoY) drop in net profit for the March quarter on flattish sales, thanks to lower commodity prices, brokerages said ahead of the its quarterly results on Friday. All eyes would be on the management commentary on the merger of Zinc international business with Hindustan Zinc.

At 12 pm, the scrip was trading 0.74 per cent higher at Rs 327 on BSE. The scrip is flat year-to-date. The Anil Agarwal Company will host earnings call post March quarter results at 4 pm (IST) on Friday.

Phillip Capital said Hindustan Zinc may report March quarter profit at Rs 2,349.60 crore, a fall of 19.8 per cent over Rs 2,928 crore profit it reported in the year-ago quarter. Revenue is seen declining 3 per cent YoY to Rs 8,530 crore from Rs 8,797 crore in the year-ago quarter. Ebitda margin is seen at 48.5 per cent against 47.1 per cent in December and 56.4 per cent in the year-ago quarter.

Sequentially, "Zinc volumes could be higher by 2 per cent while zinc LME rose 4 per cent. Cost of production may fall on lower power costs. Overall margins to improve," Phillip Capital said.

Kotak Institutional Equities expects zinc, lead and silver sales volume to increase 0.5 per cent, 10.2 per cent and 12.3 per cent, respectively on YoY basis, on the back of record yearly production numbers. It sees Ebitda to decrease 16.2 per cent YoY (up 12.2 per cent QoQ) mainly on the back of lower commodity prices.

This brokerage pegs profit for Hindustan Zinc at Rs 2,462 crore, down 16 per cent. It sees sales at Rs 8,625 crore, down 2 per cent.

Motilal Oswal Securities, meanwhile, sees adjusted profit at Rs 2,765 crore, down just 5.6 per cent. This is even as the brokerage expects Hindustan Zinc sales to drop 3.9 per cent YoY to Rs 8,455 crore.

"We await clarity on the merger of Zinc international business with HZL," it said adding that Guidance on cost of production, realisations and dividend are crucial.

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