Continuing their upward trajectory, shares of BPCL started Tuesday's trading session on a positive note. This came after the company reported a robust performance for the March quarter.
The state-owned oil marketing company on Monday posted a 168% YoY and 293% QoQ surge in its Q4FY23 consolidated net profit to ₹6,870 crore.
The company reported a net profit of ₹1,747 crore in the preceding December quarter. During the first and second quarters of FY23, BPCL recorded a significant net loss of ₹6,263 crore and ₹304 crore on holding petrol and diesel prices despite a surge in crude prices, triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
During the April-June quarter, BPCL and other oil marketing companies (OMCs) did not revise fuel prices, resulting in increased operating expenses that adversely affected the companies' bottom-line margins.
However, crude oil prices have moderated sharply due to mounting concerns surrounding a potential economic downturn in the United States and renewed worries regarding the banking industry. For the last 10 months, both Brent futures and WTI futures have been trading below $100 per barrel.
The basket of crude oil that India imports was over $100 per barrel in April last year and is now less than $75.
This lowered the operating expenses of BPCL in the March quarter, reaching ₹1,06,958 crore, reflecting a quarter-on-quarter fall of 6.93%.
In the first quarter (Q1), the operating expenses were registered at ₹1,26,912 crore, followed by ₹1,13,374 crore in Q2, and ₹1,14,924 crore in Q3.
The company witnessed a growth of nearly 8% in its revenue from operations, reaching ₹1.3 lakh crore in Q4 compared to ₹1.24 lakh crore in the corresponding period of the previous year.
In terms of revenue segments, the downstream petroleum segment generated ₹1.33 lakh crore, while the exploration and production of hydrocarbons segment reported revenue of ₹26.3 crore in the fourth quarter.
BPCL recorded a significant decline in net profit for the full year 2022–23, plummeting by 81.75% to ₹2,131 crore in comparison to ₹11,682 crore in FY22. However, there was an increase in revenue from operations for FY23, reaching ₹5.33 lakh crore, compared to ₹4.32 lakh crore in the previous fiscal year.
In FY23, BPCL reported an average gross refining margin (GRM) of $20.24 per barrel, an increase from $9.66 per barrel in FY22. It is important to note that these figures do not include the impact of Special Additional Excise Duty and Road & Infrastructure Cess, which were implemented from 1st July 2022.
In response to the strong Q4 scorecard, the stock started the Tuesday's trading session strongly at ₹367 apiece and eventually rose to hit an intraday high of ₹371, up 2.6% against the previous closing price of ₹361.60.
31 analysts polled by MintGenie on average have a 'buy' call on the stock.
Disclaimer: The views and recommendations made above are those of individual analysts or broking companies, and not of MintGenie.