Castrol India shares soar 8% on strong September quarter results

Shares of Castrol India soared 8 per cent to Rs 118 on the BSE on Wednesday after the company reported a good set of results for September quarter (Q3CY20) with Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) increasing 17.9 per cent year on year (YoY) to Rs 288 crore. Ebitda margin improved 386 basis points to 32.63 per cent from 28.77 per cent in the year-ago quarter.

The company’s revenue increased 4 per cent YoY to Rs 883 crore. Sales were led by growth across segments on account of revival in pent-up demand and a robust supply/distribution network. The profit after tax (PAT) grew 8.6 per cent at Rs 205 crore in Q3CY20 against Rs 188 crore in Q3CY19.

The management said partial revival of pent up demand, a robust supply chain and distribution network, investment in the company’s brands along with judicious working capital management contributed to delivering a good set of numbers, including growth across all spaces.

The robust working capital management which saw the company to generate Rs 624 crore net cash from operations in first nine months (January-September) of 2020 which is more than 150 per cent of PAT, along with judicious cost and efficiency management programmes have helped to maintain a current strong liquidity and financial position to be able to meet any near-term challenges, it said.

The trading volumes on the counter jumped over three-fold with a combined 4.7 million equity shares changing hands on the NSE and BSE, till 10:43 am. In comparison, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 0.58 per cent at 40,289 points.