NALCO Q3 Results: Stock down 10% despite Aluminium business outperforming; Margins narrow

Shares of National Aluminium Company Ltd. (NALCO) are trading with losses of nearly 10% on Friday, January 30, in response to their December quarter results announcement that were in line with street expectations.

Revenue for the quarter grew by 1.5% from the previous year to ₹4,731 crore, which was higher than the CNBC-TV18 poll of ₹4,499 crore.

Its Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation (EBITDA) for the quarter stood at ₹2,182.3 crore, which is 1.8% lower than last year and largely in-line with the CNBC-TV18 poll figure of ₹2,149 crore.

EBITDA margin for the quarter narrowed by 160 basis points year-on-year to 46.1% from 47.7% earlier.

NALCO's employee benefit expenses fell 14% from last year, while cost of power consumed also declined by 20% year-on-year, which helped kept the margin contraction in check.

Net profit for the period stood at ₹1,595 crore, in-line with the CNBC-TV18 poll projection of ₹1,555 crore. The figure was 1.8% higher than the same quarter last year.

The company's Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) for the Aluminium business rose 67% from last year to ₹1,582.4 crore. The figure was up 33% sequentially. On the flip side, chemicals business revenue fell 60% from last year and 18% sequentially to ₹513 crore.

Shares of NALCO have extended their losses after the results announcement, currently trading 9.7% lower at ₹387.55. The stock had declined earlier in the day in-line with the sell-off seen in Metal stocks.