UPDATE:Vedanta FY10 Net Profit Surges;Organic Growth On Track

LONDON, May 6 -- Vedanta Resources PLC (VED.LN) Thursday said full year net profit more than doubled and said it's on track to deliver a substantial increase in output through organic growth this year.

The company also proposed a final dividend of 27.5 cents a share, up 10% on the year, bringing the total dividend to 45 cents a share.

"We have achieved significant milestones during the year and are on track to deliver a substantial increase in production capacity across our businesses in 2011," said Vedanta's chairman Anil Agarwal.

Net profit attributable to equity shareholders was $602.3 million for the 12 months to March 31, from $219.4 million a year earlier, as the India-focused miner produced record iron ore, aluminum and mined zinc and lead output.

The miner reported production of 578,000 metric tons of refined zinc, 64,000 tons of saleable lead, 20.5 million tons of saleable iron ore and 533,000 tons of aluminum in fiscal year 2010.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or Ebitda, rose 42% to $2.30 billion versus $1.61 billion a year earlier, the company said. That was just ahead of a forecast of $2.28 billion in a company survey of 10 analysts. All segments reported a rise in Ebitda, with the exception of aluminum, where a 16% drop in the average London Metal Exchange cash settled price resulted in a 2.4% decline in revenue despite a rise in aluminum output during the year.

Annual revenue at the FTSE 100 miner was up 21% to $7.93 billion from $6.58 billion the previous year. Analysts had expected $7.67 billion.

The company said it invested a total of $3.5 billion in organic growth projects during the year and plans to continue investing more to boost its production capacity in the years ahead.

For instance, Vedanta has started a 50 million tons a year expansion project at its Sesa Goa iron ore division with $500 million approved to expand production in the Indian states of Goa and Karnataka.

Mining analyst Michael Rawlinson of Liberum Capital said the results were "very good" and "slightly ahead of estimates."

Vedanta's shares were down 51 pence or 2.1% at 2,343 pence while the FTSE 100 index was down 1.1%.