(RTTNews) - Mining group Vedanta Resources Plc (VED.L: News ) said profit for the first-half declined from a year ago, as increased contribution from higher volumes in aluminium, zinc and iron ore businesses were more than offset by lower commodity prices and by-product realisations across all operations. The company, which is operationally focused on India, said global economic conditions are showing early signs of improvement and it has seen some recovery in metals prices. The London listed company's shares are currently trading down 4% on the LSE.

For the first-half period, Vedanta's profit before taxation was US$604.6 million compared with US$1.14 billion in the prior- year period.

Profit attributable to shareholders plunged to US$188.2 million from US$350.0 million in the first half of fiscal 2009. The company's profit for the period from continuing operations was US$501.2 million or 61.4 US cents per share versus US$876.4 million or 111.4 US cents per share last year.

Revenues for the six-month period slumped to US$2.98 billion from US$3.97 billion in the year-ago period. Vedanta has six production segments: Aluminium, Copper-India/Australia, Copper-Zambia, Zinc, Iron Ore, and Power.

In the aluminium segment, revenues for the period were US$254.8 million versus US$594.2 million a year earlier. Aluminium production in the first half was 245 thousand tonnes, up 18.9% from the same period last year. The company attributed the increase to the production of 109 thousand tonnes from the new Jharsuguda aluminium smelter. Average LME cash settlement prices for aluminium was US$1,652 per tonne, down 42.3% from US$2,865 last year.
In the copper-India/Australia segment, revenues generated dropped to US$1.21 billion from US$1.57 billion in the previous year. In the first-half period, the production of cathodes at copper-India division was 169 thousand tonnes, an increase of 13.4% from the prior year, reflecting a 26 day bi-annual maintenance shutdown during the first half last year.

During the first six months of 2010, production of mined metal at the company's Australian mine was 12 thousand tonnes, flat with the previous year. Vedanta said production during the period was negatively impacted by a mud rush in the mine due to heavy rainfall at the end of August 2009.

In the copper-Zambia segment, revenues were US$429.9 million as compared with US$514.3 million in the first half of 2009. The company produced 78 thousand tonnes of copper cathode, which was nearly 6.9% higher than the prior-year period, reflecting a 10% increase in production from tail leaching plant of 25 thousand metric tonnes for first half of 2010 and better production from the new Nchanga smelter.

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