London, Jan 15: India-focused miner Vedanta Resources Plc said on Monday third-quarter underlying p

London, Jan 15: India-focused miner Vedanta Resources Plc said on Monday third-quarter underlying profit rose 174 percent, thanks to strong commodity prices and a sharp rise in output of aluminium, zinc and copper.

The London-listed company, which also has operations in Zambia and Australia, said earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose to a record $724 million in the three months to end-December on a revenue of $1.76 billion, up 81 percent.

A poll of seven analysts by the company had put the mean EBITDA forecast at $698.4 million on revenue of $1.68 billion.

''Production across all metals in India was significantly higher than the preceding quarter and in the corresponding prior quarter mainly because of (the) contribution from newly commissioned projects,'' Vedanta, which sells most of its output in India, said in a statement.

Vedanta, which said in November it wanted to achieve annual production levels of 1 million tonnes in each of its primary metals -- aluminium, copper and zinc -- by 2010, said nine-month EBITDA rose to $2.0 billion.

Shares in Vedanta closed at 1,110 pence on Friday, valuing the firm at around 3.2 billion pounds ($6.27 billion).

Reuters