Q4 Results: BPCL Profit Surpasses Estimates On Strong Marketing Margins

Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd.'s profit exceeded estimates for the March ended quarter on strong operational performance and lower tax expenses.

Net profit rose 25 percent to Rs 2,670 crore in the three months ended March as compared with the previous quarter, BPCL said in its filing with the stock exchanges. That's higher than the Rs 2,155 crore estimated by analysts tracked by Bloomberg. Revenue of the state-owned oil company rose 8 percent to Rs 65,239 crore, also higher than the Rs 66,260-crore estimate.

BPCL earned $6.5 for refining one barrel of crude oil during the March-ended quarter. That was lower than the $7.9 per barrel it earned in the previous quarter. The Singapore gross refining margin – the Asian benchmark – averaged around $7 per barrel.

BPCL operational performance improved during the quarter as earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation rose 17 percent to Rs 3,721 crore on a sequential basis while the operating margin expanded 40 basis points to 5.7 percent.

The company’s marketing business was aided by higher sales and improved margins while the refining business was helped by higher crude throughput.

• Gross marketing margins on petrol averaged around Rs 2.87 per litre versus Rs 2.23 per litre.
• Gross marketing margins on diesel averaged around Rs 2.93 per litre versus Rs 1.93 per litre.
• Sales rose 0.8 percent to 10.73 million metric tonnes.
• Crude throughput rose 8 percent to 7.85 MMT.

The board also declared final dividend of Rs 7 per equity share.