Vedanta Resources termed as top ranking producer by Deutsche Bank

Vedanta Resources has been awarded top-ranking producer position by Deutsche Bank after a careful review of UK listed miners. The shares of Vedanta have now gone from ‘hold’ to ‘buy’.

A total of 18 stocks were reviewed and the criteria for the reviews covered 19 metrics which included working capital management, net present value trends, product growth, commodity diversity, returns, payouts and valuation multiples.

According to analysts, the reason for this top rank is largely due to the company’s recent group restructuring completed last year with the merger of its copper and zinc ore units receiving court clearance. This was an ‘important step’ in the simplification of the group’s structure, the bank stated.

Another step which proved crucial to the company’s maximum ‘cash fungibility across all group entities’ was the potential buyout of the Indian government’s stakes in subsidiaries Hindustan Zinc and Bharat Aluminium Company. With additional bauxite sourcing in India and copper operation in Zambia, Vedanta is likely to improve in its near-term targets in 2015.

Following Vedanta, Rio Tinto and BHP Billtion are termed second and third respectively.