Vedanta shares in news on VRL, Q3 updates; NCD issue, fresh tax demand

Shares of Vedanta Ltd will be in focus on Thursday morning after the Anil Agarwal-led company gave updates on its December quarter production figures and announced issue of Rs 3,400 crore worth NCDs. The stock would also be in news amid a report suggesting Vedanta Resources (VRL) bondholders have voted in favour of the proposed restructuring of the debt instruments that were due later this month. In addition, Vedanta informed stock exchanges about tax demand received by a subsidiary.

In the case of production figures, Vedanta said Alumina production at Lanjigarh refinery was up 6 per cent YoY and 1 per cent QoQ to 470kt. The cast metal aluminium production at its smelters up 6 per cent YoY and 1 per cent QoQ.

In the case of Zinc India, the mined metal production came in at 271kt, up 7 per cent YoY and 8 epr cent QoQ, driven by mix of improved mined metal grades and higher ore production at Rampura Agucha and Sindesar Khurd Mines.

The refined metal production stood at 259kt, up 1 per cent YoY. Sequentially, it was up by 7 per cent, resulting from better plant availability.

Refined lead production stood at 56kt, up 21 per cent YoY on account of pyro operations on lead mode to maximise silver production. Saleable silver production came in at 197 tonnes, up 22 per cent YoY, in line with lead metal production. It is up 9 per cent QoQ in line with lead metal production and higher WIP accumulation in base period.

Zinc International operations were hit hard. Overall production was down 40 per cent YoY and 38 per cent QoQ to 41kt. Gamsberg production fell 44 per cent YoY and 40 per cent QoQ impacted by mining challenges, lower zinc grades and recoveries. BMM production also fell 30 per cent YoY and 32 per cent QoQ due to lower throughput, and lower grades of zinc and lead.

In the case of iron ore, saleable ore production up 13 per cent QoQ in Karnataka, driven by improved operational efficiency. Pig Iron production was up 1 per cent YoY and down 7 per cent QoQ, on account of capital shutdown of one smaller furnace.

"Our Silvassa cathode and wire rod plant continue to operate which enables us to cater to the domestic market. Cathode production at Silvassa was 43 kt, up 27 per cent YoY and up 23 per cent QoQ driven by improvement in operational efficiencies and raw material supply chain management," Vedanta said.

Vedanta shares are up 9 per cent in the last one month but are down 15 per cent in the last one year.

Vedanta Resources update

A media report suggested that more than 97 per cent bondholders at Vedanta Resources (VRL) voted in favour of a proposed restructuring of the debt instruments that were due to mature starting later this month. This would help Anil Agarwal stick to financial commitments ahead of a series of planned multiple listings for his operational companies in India in an ambitious value-unlocking exercise, the ET reported.

NCD issue

In an other BSE filing, Vedanta said the company has duly allotted, on a private placement basis, 3,40,000 units of secured, unrated, unlisted, redeemable, non-Convertible debentures (NCDs) of face value Rs 1,00,000/- each aggregating to Rs 3,400 crore with the depository confirmation for credit of NCDs being received on January 3.

GST demand

In another filing Vedanta said subsidiary BALCO received an order confirming demand of GST pertaining to FY 2017-18 on account of procedural issue related to transfer of credit of erstwhile taxes to GST regime in terms of relevant provisions of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 read with Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. It said it has received a demand issued of Rs 3,52,27,418 along with applicable interest and penalty of 100 per cent of the GST demand.

"BALCO evaluated the merits of the case and decided to file the appeal with the Appellate Authority within the time limit prescribed under the GST Law. The Company and BALCO is hopeful of a favourable outcome thereof and does not expect the said Order to have any material financial impact on the company," Vedanta said.

Besides, Vedanta said it has received a GST demand of Rs 30,880 along with applicable interest and penalty of Rs 10,000 from Office of The Assistant Commissioner of State Tax, Surat, Gujarat.

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