Mumbai, July 29: Aditya Birla group-owned metal producer Hindalco has reported a 38 per cent growth in net profit at Rs 324.90 crore for the first quarter ended June 30. It had earned Rs 235.60 crore in the year-ago period.

Revenues during the quarter rose 7 per cent year-on-year to Rs 2,207.8 crore from Rs 2,061.6 crore.

While aluminium business accounted for Rs 1,340.6 crore of the company’s total operating revenue ? an increase of 15.5 per cent over the corresponding quarter last year ? revenue from copper business fell 3.9 per cent to Rs 867.70 crore from Rs 903.30 crore. The decline in copper business was attributed to lower production volumes due to planned and preventive shutdowns.

However, the buoyancy in the company’s overall performance was stemmed by higher volumes, enriched product-mix and better realisations helped by steady prices on the London Metals Exchange (LME).

Minus the marginal slide in revenue from copper business, Hindalco showed better operating efficiencies during the three months period and posted a 2 per cent rise in the before-tax profit margins to 9.4 per cent from 7.2 per cent in the year-ago period. Moreover, the profit margin improved in the face of a tariff cut, reduction in export incentives and increased input and energy costs.Hindalco shareholders will meet on August 6 to approve a resolution to split the face value of the equity shares from Rs 10 per share to Re 1 per share. The board of the company has already approved the proposal. The stock split is being done with the objective of attracting more retail participation and redressing the concerns of reduced liquidity and increased volatility of the shares on the bourses.

The company has chalked out a slew of expansion plans for the aluminium and the copper businesses. It has already commissioned the 100-megawatt (mw) power unit at Hirakud in Orissa in April. The electricity output from the unit reached full capacity in June. Power generated at the company's captive power plants surged 18.8 per cent year on year from 1,277 mega units (mu) to 1,742 mu.

In July, the company commissioned another expansion project designed to raise its copper smelter capacity from 250,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) to 500,000 tpa.