INDIA’S largest public sector independent petroleum refinery Mangalore Refineries and Petrochemicals (MRPL) more than doubled its net profit to Rs 608 crore during the fourth quarter ended March ‘09 from year-ago levels. However, the poor show in the preceding two quarters pulled down net profit for the whole year by 6%.
The company had posted poor refining margins in the preceding two quarters due to the crash in petroleum product prices. In the fourth quarter, however, buoyancy in crude oil prices aided MRPL’s growth. Its gross refining margins (GRM) - the differential between the cost of raw materials and the price of refined products sold - stood at $7.54 per barrel, making it the company’s best March ending quarter in at least five preceding years. During the March ‘08 quarter, the company’s GRM stood at $5.6 per barrel.
MRPL also improved its capacity utilisation to nearly 140% of its rated capacity during the quarter with a crude throughput of 3.42 million tonnes, 8.6% higher than the corresponding quarter of the previous year.
At the end of the March ‘09 quarter, the company’s net debt - borrowed funds net of cash equivalents - has become nearly zero due to strong operating cash flows and reduction in debt. The company’s interest cost during the quarter, at Rs 32.8 crore, was 8% lower y-o-y.
The weaker rupee caused a net forex loss of Rs 188.5 crore for the March quarter. For FY09, the exchange loss was at Rs 587.9 crore.
The company had created a provision of Rs 62.35 crore towards mark-to-market losses on outstanding forward forex contracts in the December ‘08 quarter. The contracts were taken to hedge the risk of changes in foreign currency exchange rates on future export sales. However in the March ‘09 quarter, these mark-to-market losses stood at only Rs 22.6 crore allowing the company to write back the excess provisioning of Rs 39.7 crore.
The company’s board of directors proposed Rs 1.2 per share as dividend during FY09, the same as last year. The scrip jumped over 14% after the results, to Rs 75. At the current market price the stock is now trading at 11 times its earnings for FY09 with dividend yield of 1.6%.
The company had posted poor refining margins in the preceding two quarters due to the crash in petroleum product prices. In the fourth quarter, however, buoyancy in crude oil prices aided MRPL’s growth. Its gross refining margins (GRM) - the differential between the cost of raw materials and the price of refined products sold - stood at $7.54 per barrel, making it the company’s best March ending quarter in at least five preceding years. During the March ‘08 quarter, the company’s GRM stood at $5.6 per barrel.
MRPL also improved its capacity utilisation to nearly 140% of its rated capacity during the quarter with a crude throughput of 3.42 million tonnes, 8.6% higher than the corresponding quarter of the previous year.
At the end of the March ‘09 quarter, the company’s net debt - borrowed funds net of cash equivalents - has become nearly zero due to strong operating cash flows and reduction in debt. The company’s interest cost during the quarter, at Rs 32.8 crore, was 8% lower y-o-y.
The weaker rupee caused a net forex loss of Rs 188.5 crore for the March quarter. For FY09, the exchange loss was at Rs 587.9 crore.
The company had created a provision of Rs 62.35 crore towards mark-to-market losses on outstanding forward forex contracts in the December ‘08 quarter. The contracts were taken to hedge the risk of changes in foreign currency exchange rates on future export sales. However in the March ‘09 quarter, these mark-to-market losses stood at only Rs 22.6 crore allowing the company to write back the excess provisioning of Rs 39.7 crore.
The company’s board of directors proposed Rs 1.2 per share as dividend during FY09, the same as last year. The scrip jumped over 14% after the results, to Rs 75. At the current market price the stock is now trading at 11 times its earnings for FY09 with dividend yield of 1.6%.
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