Riding on the back of government-issued bonds, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), the country’s largest oil marketing company, has reported a 42 per cent jump in its net profit for the quarter ended December 31, 2008, at Rs 2,958.59 crore.
During the quarter, net sales rose nearly 4 per cent to Rs 60,875 crore. The company’s share price on the Bombay Stock Exchange today gained 2.43 per cent to Rs 446.35.
“In spite of inventory losses and lower refining margins, the profit could be achieved due to support from the government by way of additional bonds,” Chairman Sarthak Behuria said.
However, for the nine-month period ended December 31, IOC has reported a loss of Rs 3,673.41 crore. It had posted a profit of Rs 7,376.85 crore in the year-ago period. Net sales for the nine-month period increased 30 per cent to Rs 209,693 crore.
The company is hopeful of putting up a better performance in the fourth quarter. “The gross refining margin should be better this quarter and under-recoveries are unlikely to go up. Our ability to bear under-recovery this year is zero and the government has recognised this,” Behuria said.
The company has received bonds worth Rs 23,951 crore during the nine-month period to partly offset under-recoveries. “We still have under-recoveries worth Rs 7,539 crore for the nine-month period and hope to get government bonds worth the same amount,” he added.
