Fuel retailer Hindustan Petroleum Corp ltd (HPCl) has posted 31 per cent jump in the March quarter net profit on higher refining margins and inventory gains. The State-owned oil firm also announced a bonus issue of one equity share of Rs 10 each for every two equity shares held or the ratio of 1:2. In 2016-17, the company had in 2016-17 issued bonus shares in the ratio of 2:1, according to a top official of the company.
Net profit in the January-March quarter of last fiscal was Rs1,818.79 crore or Rs17.90 per share, which is 31 per cent higher than Rs1,387.91 crore or Rs13.66 a share, in the same quarter of the previous fiscal 2015-16, according to HPCl Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Kumar Surana. "Profit was higher as a result of better operating efficiencies, higher sales and inventory gains," Surana said.
The company also realised an inventory gain of Rs743 crore in the March quarter of 2016-17 as compared to Rs37-crore gain made in the same period of the previous financial year.
The company has also announced that it has signed a revised memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Rajasthan Government for setting up an Integrated Petroleum-cum-Petrochemical Refinery at a revised capital cost of Rs43,129 crore.
"The project is expected to be commissioned in four years from the date all clearances are in place and HPCl will hold the marketing rights of all the products," Surana added.