Bharat Petroleum Q1 net profit at Rs 745 cr down 72%

New Delhi, Aug 11 (IANS State -run oil marketing company (OMC) Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) on Friday reported a massive 72 per cent fall in net profit for first quarter of the fiscal ended June at Rs 745 crore caused by inventory loss and a drop in refining margins.

The firm had posted a profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 2,621 crore in the corresponding quarter a year ago, BPCL said in a stock exchange filing.

PAT also took a sequential plunge with the company having recorded a net profit of Rs 1,842 crore during the previous quarter.

BPCL's gross refining margin, or profit earned on each barrel of crude processed, during the quarter in consideration fell to $4.88 per barrel, compared with $6.09 per barrel in the same period last year.

The company's total expenses in the quarter shot up 24 per cent to Rs 66,309 crore, as against the expenditure of Rs 53,639 crore in the same quarter last year.

BPCL stock closed trade on Friday at Rs 484.25 a share, up Rs 2.80, or by 0.58 per cent, over its previous close on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

--IANS

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