Indian Oil Q3 net jumps 29% on more margins, inventory gain

State-run Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) on Tuesday posted a 29 per cent increase in its net profit for the third quarter ended December 2016 at Rs 3,994.91 crore, buoyed by higher refinery margins and inventory gains.

The largest Indian oil marketer had recorded a profit of Rs 3,095.75 crore in the same quarter a year ago.

The company's net revenue for the said quarter grew by 19.1 per cent year-on-year to Rs 1,15,645 crore on the back of a growth of over 19 per cent in petroleum products and 12 per cent in petrochemicals.

IOC earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) at Rs 7,949 crore during the quarter in question grew by 48.4 per cent compared with the same quarter last year due to lower purchases of stock in trade.

Company Chairman B. Ashok told reporters here that IOC sales jumped to Rs 1,15,161.11 crore from Rs 96,783.11 crore in the October-December period of 2015.

Domestic fuel sales during the quarter grew nearly one million tonnes to 20.12 million tonnes, while exports more than doubled to 1.2 million tonnes, he said.

The company had a gross refining margin (GRM) of $7.79 on turning each barrel of crude oil into fuel in the third quarter, as compared with a GRM of $5.96 in the same period of the previous fiscal.

Indian Oil refineries processed 16.37 million tonnes of crude oil in the quarter in consideration, up from 14.42 million tonnes.

IOC Director (Finance) A.K. Sharma said inventory gains on crude oil in the third quarter on account of a rise in international prices were Rs 1,758 crore, and on products were Rs 1,292 crore, adding up to Rs 3,050 crore.

This compares with an inventory loss of Rs 4,485 crore (Rs 2,330 crore on crude oil and Rs 2,155 crore on products) in the corresponding period of 2015.

The Board of IOC has declared an interim dividend of Rs 13.5 per equity share.

The IOC stock closed trade on Tuesday at Rs 366.05 a share, down 11.40 points, or 3.02 per cent, over its previous close on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

--IANS

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