Hindustan Zinc shares rise 6% as board to consider second dividend on December 6

livemint.com:

Hindustan Zinc share price rose over 6% to ₹319 on BSE on Monday’s trading session. This uptick followed the company's announcement that its board, scheduled to meet on December 6, would deliberate on the possibility of declaring a second interim dividend for the current financial year. The stock experienced heightened trading activity, with approximately 1.9 million shares traded on both the BSE and NSE by midday.

This contrasted sharply with the one-week average of 0.4 million shares. In a filing with the exchange, Hindustan Zinc, owned by Vedanta, announced that the record date for establishing eligibility for the second interim dividend is set for December 14, 2023. On the record date, shareholders holding the shares will qualify for the dividend payout.

In the quarter ending September, Hindustan Zinc witnessed a 35.5 percent year-on-year (YoY) decline in net profit, juxtaposed with an 18.5 percent surge in revenue. Nevertheless, the management expressed optimism regarding anticipated growth in zinc demand within India, attributing it to heightened infrastructure and construction activities, along with a rising steel output. They outlined a capex guidance ranging from $170 million to $200 million for the fiscal year 2024, while keeping the overall capex steady at $375 million for the entire year.

Systematix Institutional Equities analysts have assigned a "hold" rating to the stock, accompanied by a target price of ₹287. "We have factored in mined metal production at 1.06 metric tonne (+2.7 percent YoY) and silver production at 744 tonne (+4.1 percent YoY) for FY24. We revise our FY24E/FY25E EBITDA downward by 25 percent/17 percent to account for lower metal prices partially offset by lower cost of production," the