India's Hindustan Zinc posts sixth straight fall in quarterly profit on lower prices

BENGALURU (Reuters) - India's Hindustan Zinc reported a sixth consecutive quarter of declining profit on Friday as zinc prices fell amid subdued demand, sending the miner's shares down by as much as 2.7%.

Net profit fell 21% to 20.38 billion rupees ($244.1 million) in the January-March quarter, the country's top zinc producer said. Analysts, on an average, had expected a profit of 19.82 billion rupees, as per LSEG data.

The metals miner, which is majority-owned by Vedanta , was up 0.6% before announcement. The metals index was last up 0.9%.

Domestic zinc prices continued to be soft during the quarter as global metal prices were subdued on demand concerns from top consumer China.

The company reported a 2% increase in zinc production for the fourth quarter, but sales fell 17%.

Revenue from the zinc mining business - the biggest segment - fell 16%, resulting in a 12% drop in overall revenue to 72.85 billion rupees.

Both mined metal and refined metal production in fiscal year 2025 is expected to be higher than last year, the miner said, adding that its silver production was the third-highest globally in 2024 - up 12% in the quarter from a year earlier.

Separately, in March, the Indian government, Hindustan Zinc's largest minority shareholder, rejected the miner's proposal to split into different units, according to a government official.

The company is first among its peers to report quarterly earnings. Vedanta, Hindalco and Tata Steel will report their results next month.

($1 = 83.4960 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Manvi Pant in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema)