BPCL Reports 24% Drop In January-March PAT, But Beats Market Expectations

State-owned Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd.'s net profit for the March quarter slumped nearly 24% year-on-year to ₹32.14 billion, although its performance exceeded analyst expectations. Analysts had forecast a 37% drop in net profit.

The decline in net profit was attributed to a 52% drop in the company’s average gross refining margin, which stood at $6.82 per barrel. With this, the company's net profit has fallen on year in three of the four quarters in the previous financial year. The company's net profit was further impacted by a one-time expense of ₹17.74 billion due to an impairment loss on investment in its subsidiary Bharat PetroResources Ltd. A similar expense of nearly ₹18 billion was reported in the fourth quarter of the financial year 2023-24 (April-March) due to an impairment loss in the same subsidiary.

BPCL's revenue for the March quarter was ₹1.27 trillion, a nearly 4% on year decline. The company’s revenue, excluding excise duty, was ₹1.11 trillion, down nearly 5% on year, but in line with market expectations.

Despite the revenue decline, BPCL saw an increase in both refinery throughput and sales during the March quarter. The company’s crude oil refinery throughput for the quarter rose to 10.58 million tonnes from 10.36 million tonnes a year ago. Market sales also increased to 13.42 million tonnes from 13.18 million tonnes on year.

Total expenses, excluding excise duty, fell 3.3% on year to ₹1.1 trillion during the quarter. Finance costs decreased by over 4% to ₹5.47 billion. However, the cost of materials consumed rose nearly 3% on year to ₹580.45 billion, while the cost of purchasing stock-in-trade fell 6% to ₹389.41 billion.

For 2024-25, the company reported a net profit of ₹132.75 billion, less than half the net profit of the preceding year. Its revenue from operations for the year fell over 1% to ₹5.00 trillion.

The company announced a final dividend of ₹5 per share for its shareholders.