HPCL Q4 net profit jumps 70% to Rs 2,970 crore on inventory gains

Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) Monday reported a 70 per cent jump in its fourth quarter net profit as inventory gains and rupee appreciation negated a dip in refinery margins.

Net profit in January-March came at Rs 2,970 crore against Rs 1,748 crore in the same period a year back, HPCL Chairman and Managing Director M K Surana told reporters.

"Increase in profits is mainly attributable to increased sales, improved logistics, efficiency, inventory gains and rupee appreciation during Q4 of financial year ending March 31, 2019," he said.

HPCL had an inventory gain of Rs 916 crore as the value of stock it held rose due to international price movement. The firm had an inventory gain in the fourth quarter of previous year, he said.

Besides the company had an currency exchange gain of Rs 248 crore as opposed to a forex loss of Rs 84 crore a year back, he said.

The company earned $4.51 crore on turning every barrel of crude oil into fuel as compared to gross refinery margin of $7.07 per barrel.

Surana said HPCL sales rose 6.5 per cent to 10.03 million tonnes.

"The sales of petrol increased 8.5 per cent, diesel by 3 per cent, LPG by 12.9 per cent, ATF by 17 per cent," he said.

Turnover rose to Rs 72,840 crore in January-March from Rs 66,351 crore a year back.

During 2018-19 full fiscal, net profit was lower at Rs 6,029 crore when compared with Rs 6,357 crore.

GRM of $5.01 per barrel in the fiscal compares with $7.40 in previous financial year. The lower refinery margins was due to "increased crude price and exchange rate variation loss due to rupee depreciation," he said.

While inventory gains rose to Rs 1,366 crore from Rs 851 crore 2017-18, the company suffered a currency exchange loss of Rs 579 crore as compared to a gain of Rs 322 crore a year back, he added.

He said the company's borrowings went up by over Rs 7,000 crore to Rs 27,240 crore as about Rs 8,000 crore of fuel subsidy bill remained unpaid by the government.

During 2018-19, HPCL achieved the highest ever sales of 38.7 million tonnes.

The company declared a final dividend of Rs 9.40 per share for FY2018-19.