Hindustan Zinc -
Q3 FY 26 results and Concall highlights -
Revenues - 10922 vs 8556 cr, up 27 pc
EBITDA - 6005 vs 4458 cr, up 36 pc ( margins @ 55 vs 52 pc )
PAT - 3879 vs 2647 cr, up 44 pc
Company’s mkt share in India’s domestic Zinc mkt @ 77 pc
Silver’s contribution to net profits stands @ 44 pc
In Q3, CoP fell to $ 940 / MT ( excluding royalty ) - down 10 pc YoY and 5 pc QoQ - quite an achievement. Continue to remain among the lowest cost Zinc producers
Mined metal output @ 276 KT in Q3, up 7 pc QoQ and 4 pc YoY
Refined metal output @ 270 KT in Q3, up 9 pc QoQ and 4 pc YoY
Silver production in Q3 @ 158 MT, up 10 pc QoQ ( vs 144 MTs in Q2 )
Company is India’s only integrated producer of Lead, Zinc and Silver. Also the only producer of Zinc alloys
Company was the successful bidder for a Tungsten mine in AP. Have also received LoI for Potash and REE ( rare earth elements ) mines in Rajasthan and UP respectively
Avg Zinc and Lead prices / Ton in Q3 stood @ $ 3165 and $ 1970. Current ( 24 Jan ) Zinc and Lead prices / Ton are @ $ 3280 and $ 2035
In Q3, company’s avg selling price for Silver stood @ $ 54/ounce. Current Silver prices are @ $ 103 / ounce !!!
Company’s annual silver production in FY 04 was @ 35 MT / yr, in FY 12 was @ 205 MT / yr, in FY 25 was @ 687 MT /yr - up 20 times ( aprox ) in 2 decades. Company is now the world’s 4th largest Silver miner
Company has commissioned expanded smelter facilities ( post expansion ) @ Darbaria and Chanderiaya in Q2 and Q3
Hot acid leaching plant @ Darbaria for additional recovery of 27 MTPA of Silver and 6 KTPA of Lead is expected to be commissioned by Mar 26
510 KTPA - DAP fertiliser plant ( DAP is mainly imported into India ) is expected to be commissioned by June 26. It ll be producing DAP fertiliser and NPK nutrients. The fertiliser plant that the company is expected to commission next FY has the potential to do peak EBITDA of 450 - 500 cr / yr
Notes from previous concalls -
In medium to long term, company aspires to increase its metal production to 1.5 MMT / yr ( initially ) and then to 2 MMT ( eventually ). Also intend to increase their reserves to 2X of current levels by indulging in domestic and international exploration activities. This would entail a lot of CAPEX - should be doable with internal accruals as the company produces a lot of cash / yr. Also intend to expand Silver production to 1500 MT / yr over medium to long term
Company has set up a dedicated subsidiary - Hindmetal Exploration Services Pvt Ltd - to continuously focus on exploring, discovering, developing and tapping mineral resources. The subsidiary has interest in exploration of all minerals across the globe by implementing best in class technologies and practices
Company’s smelting capacities -
Zinc smelting capacity @ .913 MMT + .16 MMT ( recently commissioned @ Derbari ) + .21 MMT ( recently commissioned @ Chanderia )
Lead smelting capacity @ .210 MMT
Silver refining capacity @ 800 MT
Have announced a capex of 12000 cr for setting up of 250 KTPA zinc smelter @ Debari. Have already started work on ground ( yet to finalise the technology to be used in the Smelter ). This should take 2.5 - 3 yrs before it goes commercial
Percentage of power used by the company that came from renewable sources in Q2 stood @ 19 pc. Aim to exit FY 26 with renewable share of power consumption @ 25 pc
Captive power generation capacity @ 625 MW. Among India’s largest producer of Wind Power with a generation capacity of 274 MW - spread across 5 states Company has entered into a 25 yr long renewable power purchase agreement with Serentica ltd - this would @ a fixed flat rate of energy buying without any inflation and would help the company move towards its stated goal of reducing costs to $ 1000 / Ton
Notes from Q3 concall -
Have announced Capex for India’s first Zinc Tailings reprocessing plant. It will be transforming waste into valuable resources while contributing significantly to circular economy. Key highlights -
Feed capacity: 10 Mtpa
Total approved investment: ₹ 3,823 crore
Target completion: 4QFY28
Current cash on books @ 9340 cr
Q3 volume performance ( production of refined metal )-
Zinc - 221 vs 259 KT
Lead - 49 vs 55 KT
Silver - 158 vs 160 MT
Q3 Segmental revenues -
Zinc - 6485 vs 5628 cr, up 15 pc
Lead - 1036 vs 1008 cr, up 3 pc
Silver - 2676 vs 1465 cr, up 93 pc
Others - 873 vs 513 cr, up 53 pc
Ballpark estimate - If avg selling price for silver in Q4 stays @ $ 84 / ounce ( vs $ 54 in Q3 ) - additional EBITDA for the company over Q3 shall be around 1400 cr. That would amount to EBITDA within striking distance of 7500 cr ( not even accounting for higher Zinc and Lead prices currently prevailing in Q4 )
Electrification and Renewable energy themes are a tailwind for Zinc ( used in Galvanised steel for Solar panels + Wind energy Infra ) + Silver ( widely used in Electronics, Batteries, Solar panel coatings )
State taxes / Royalties paid to the state of Rajasthan in 9Ms FY 26 stood @ 4000 cr
In domestic Lead mkt, company’s mkt share is > 90 pc !!!
Both silver and lead continue to trade a premium to LME prices ( in the domestic mkt ) - another tailwind for the company
Continue to hedge 15-20 pc of their total metals output ( holds for all three metals ). Will continue with the same for FY 27
FY 26 Silver’s hedging price is $ 39 / ounce, for Zinc is around $ 2900 / Ton. Thee prices for FY 27 are $ 68 / ounce for silver and aprox $ 3100 / Ton for Zinc respectively
Have spent $ 180 million as growth Capex in FY 26. Will be spending around $ 300 million / yr wef next FY ( talking about growth capex ). In addition, will be spending $ 400 million maintenance capex / yr
Full FY 26 Silver production should be around 680 MT, Have sold 450 MTs in first 9Ms. That means a Q4 sales figure of around 230 MTs of Silver !!! This is expected to incline their Q4 PAT even further
The share of renewable energy as a percentage of company’s total energy consumption for FY 27 should be around 40 pc and around 70 pc for FY 28. This would eventually lead to 300 cr / yr kind of cost savings vs FY 26 ( where the company shall exit with renewable power share of 25 pc or so )
Zinc tailings are fine-grained, solid waste materials left after extracting zinc from ore, composed mainly of silica, alumina, iron oxides, and other minerals, posing environmental risks but also holding potential for reuse in construction (roads, concrete) or reprocessing to recover residual metals, turning waste into resources
Company also sold 20 Tons of Lead - Silver concentrate in Q3 - which helped profitability ( as they got good prices for the same )
Disc: core holding, inclined to add on dips, not SEBI registered, not a buy/sell recommendation, posted only for educational purposes