Mumbai, April 30: Hindalco?s fourth-quarter net profit for 2004-05 surged 102 per cent to Rs 449 crore from Rs 222 crore in the corresponding previous period. Better realisations and margins in aluminium has helped the company come up with such good numbers.

Total income rose 32.36 per cent to Rs 2,590.70 crore from Rs 1,957.30 in the year-ago period.

For the whole of 2004-05, the company has posted a net profit of Rs 1,329.40 crore, a gain of 58.46 per cent from Rs 839 crore in the corresponding fiscal.

Total income for the year stood at Rs 9,793.30 crore against Rs 6,448.40 crore a year ago. The board has recommended a dividend of Rs 20 per share.

The company said the results included Indal?s numbers, which was merged with Hindalco during the year.

The company has a slew of projects lined up ? greenfield units in Orissa, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh and brownfield projects at Renukoot and Belgaum.

Debu Bhattacharya, managing director of Hindalco, was bullish about the company?s prospects. ?Hindalco has enormous capacity to leverage its balance sheet,? he said.

He is upbeat about the copper business. ?If I want to book sales of every gram of copper for the next 10 years, we'll have no problem doing so.?

The company is confident of reaping a rich harvest from its three-pronged strategy of growth with vertical integration, thrust on branding and a continued focus on value- added products.

Hindalco plans to leverage business synergies and high growth levels in alumina and expand its copper business. It hopes to acquire additional copper and bauxite mines and also evaluate various growth opportunities in aluminium and alumina.

The company has signed MoUs with Orissa and Jharkhand for setting up greenfield alumina and aluminium facilities.

The brownfield expansion in its copper business to double its capacity from 250,000 TPA to 500,000 TPA is on schedule. The company said trials at the new plant have begun and commercial production is likely to commence soon.