Gulf Oil nets Rs 6.4 crore in Q4

Propped up by a steep rise in other income, Gulf Oil Corporation, a Hinduja group company, has recorded a net profit of Rs 6.41 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2004, an increase of 14.66 per cent over Rs 5.59 crore in the corresponding quarter ended March 31, 2003. The company has declared a dividend of 60 per cent at Rs 6 per share.

The company's net sales during the quarter slid 8.6 per cent to Rs 103.40 crore from Rs 113.08 crore. Added to this was an extraordinary expenditure of Rs 3.65 crore towards ex-gratia payment to the families of the deceased in an accident at one of its detonating fuse plants in Hyderabad on November 25, 2003.

The plant had to be shut down and it commenced production on January 28 and normal operations were restored from only mid-March 2004.

However, a sharp rise in its other income which went up from Rs 1.55 crore to touch Rs 12.83 crore helped the company post increased net profits during the quarter. The company earned Rs 9.18-crore in capital gains on sale of property. The total income went up by a mere 1.4 per cent to touch Rs 116.24 crore as compared to Rs 114.64 crore for the quarter.

For the financial year 2003-04, the company's net profit rose 49.57 per cent to Rs 22.90 crore from Rs 15.31 crore in 2002-03. Net sales marginally rose by 3.6 per cent to Rs 372.04 crore from Rs 359.27 crore.

A 372 per cent rise in other income at Rs 33.68 crore helped the total income rise by 10.74 per cent to Rs 405.73 crore, as compared to Rs 366.40 crore.

For the full year, only the lubricants division posted positive growth. The division recorded a 32 per cent growth in sales at Rs 208.70 crore during 2003-04 as compared to Rs 158.28 crore in 2002-03.

It turned out a strong performance despite a steep increase in the prices of base oils, which impacted the entire lubricating oil industry, the press release noted.

The revenue of the explosives division was Rs 161.79 crore (Rs 197.08 crore), while that of building products division was Rs 2.13 crore (Rs 2.7 crore).

On the performance of the explosives division, the company explained that it was affected by the suspension of production activities at its largest plant at Hyderabad for over two months following the accident in November 2003.

The company announced that it has initiated a Rs 5-crore project to expand filling capacity by 50 per cent at its Silvassa plant. The project is slated to be completed by July 2004.

The new contracts division handling mining/infrastructure projects successfully completed the Manuguru project in August 2003. Works at Koyagudem site of Singareni Collieries commenced in February 2004.

The division also undertook iron ore mining projects in Barbil region for three mines belonging to reputed companies. The total turnover of the division was Rs 28 crore (36 crore). The division is at present negotiating several large contracts for the current year.

The company has embarked on a project to manufacture APIs based on research work done by its Hyderabad R&D centre.

Commercial production is expected to start in phases from second-half of the year. This is expected to increase the turnover as well as profitability of the company in the current year, the company said in the release.