Cairn India Q2 net at Rs 779 crore zooms 139 per cent

Oil and gas major Cairn India on Friday posted an impressive 139 per cent jump in net profit for the second quarter ended September at Rs 779 crore as against Rs 326 crore recorded in the same quarter of the last fiscal mainly on the back of an increase in foreign exchange gains of Rs 158 crore.

The company's consolidated net revenue for the quarter, however, declined by 9.1 per cent at Rs 2,039 crore, compared to the same quarter a year ago.

Cairn's consolidated earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for the quarter in question at Rs 1,039 crore grew by 6.8 per cent over the same period of the last fiscal boosted by strong operational performance and reduced cess on crude oil by Rs 183 crore, the company said in a statement here.

The consolidated EBITDA margin grew year-on-year by 756 basis points and stood at 51 per cent for the quarter in consideration as against 43.4 per cent in the same period of last year.

Reduction in facility and well maintenance expenses through streamlining the maintenance activities and work-over programmes helped lower the operating cost, the statement said.

The company had a gross production of 18.1 mmboe (millions barrels of oil equivalent) across all the assets during the quarter, of which working interest production was 11.6 mmboe while gross sales was 17.6 mmboe averaging at 191,579 boepd (barrel of oil equivalent per day), it added.

"The Cairn India team has delivered a net profit of Rs 779 crore for the quarter ended September 2016 in a challenging oil price environment. This is the highest quarterly profit for the company over the past six quarters and is reflective of our industry leading technological and operational capabilities," Sudhir Mathur, acting CEO, Cairn India, said in the statement.

Cairn India stock closed on Friday at Rs 231.80 a share, down 4 points, or 1.7 per cent, from its previous close on the BSE.

--IANS

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