BPCL income up 6.5 per cent as rupee keeps rising

Our Corporate Bureau
28 July 2007

Mumbai: Oil PSU Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) has reported a net profit of Rs 192.7 crore for the quarter ended June 30, as compared to a net loss of Rs 426.5 crore for the same quarter last year.

Helped by a rising rupee, the company's total income (net of excise) rose to 6.5 per cent to Rs 24,303.5 crore for the quarter from Rs 22,819.8 crore for the same quarter a year ago, BPCL said in a filing with the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

The group recorded a net profit (after minority interest) of Rs 238.5 crore for the quarter ended June 30, as compared to net loss of Rs 378.2 crore for the same quarter previous year.

"During the same quarter last year, the rupee had depreciated which caused us losses to the tune of Rs 150 crore. In the current June quarter, the appreciation of rupee helped us earn a foreign exchange of Rs 230 crore, which in effect made a difference of Rs 380 crore in the current results. Apart from that, high crude margins contributed to better performance," said SK Joshi, director (finance) of BPCL.

Crude throughput was higher for the period at 5.15 million tonnes, compared with 4.88 million tonnes in the corresponding previous quarter and market sales grew from 5.78 million tonnes the previous period to 6.33 million tonnes for the quarter.