Vedanta year EPS falls 7.1 pct on share issue

LONDON (Reuters) - Indian-focused mining group Vedanta (VED.L) posted a 7.1 percent fall in annual underlying earnings per share on Thursday despite stronger output due to a share issue and higher minority interests.

EPS for the 12 months to end March fell to 303.9 cents from 327 cents in the same period last year, while attributable profit fell 5.9 percent to $879 million (451 million pounds).

The attributable profit was slightly higher than a forecast of 10 analysts polled by the company of $874 million.

"The profit attributable to equity shareholders reduced... primarily due to the impact of the additional issue of shares by (unit) Sterlite which has resulted in higher minority interests," the firm said in a statement.

Vedanta said the mining sector continued to be buoyant, but did not give a specific outlook for revenue or profits.

"Global demand for metals continues to be strong and we are well placed to serve this growing demand. The industry faces challenges in terms of cost pressures and the ability to bring new capacities to production on time and within budget."

The firm, which has operations in India, Australia and Zambia, proposed a final dividend of 25 cents, up 25 percent.

Revenue climbed 26 percent to $8.2 billion due to higher output. Production figures released last month showed that annual copper cathode output in India rose 8.3 percent to 339,000 tonnes while Zambia's grew 5.6 percent to 150,000 tonnes.

Aluminium production added 12.8 percent to 396,000 tonnes while volumes in refined zinc increased 22.4 percent to 426,000 tonnes and proforma iron ore production rose 17 percent to 12.44 million tonnes.