GAIL (India) Ltd.'s quarterly profit surged as other income rose and domestic demand revived, and performance of the petrochemicals and natural gas segments improved.
Net profit of India's largest gas distributor rose to Rs 1,239.7 crore in the July-September period from Rs 256 crore in the preceding three months, according to an exchange filing. That compares with Rs 1,072-crore consensus estimate of analysts tracked by Bloomberg. Its revenue increased 12.9% quarter-on-quarter to Rs 13,643 crore, against the Rs 14,436-crore forecast.
GAIL (India) Q2 Results 2020-21: Key Highlights (quarter-on-quarter)
- Operating profit rose to Rs 1,338 crore from Rs 622.2 crore.
- Other income jumped threefold to Rs 724 crore.
- Operating margin expanded to 9.8% from 5.2% in the April-June period.
GAIL suffered trading losses in the first quarter as the company sold LNG cargoes in the international market at lower prices after domestic demand collapsed amid the Covid-19 lockdown. But as demand normalised in India, natural gas marketing losses fell to Rs 363.9 crore in the second quarter from Rs 545 crore in the preceding three months.
The company is also expanding into city gas networks. GAIL (India) and Indian Oil Corp. Ltd. have won most licences in the ninth and tenth round of city gas auctions.
Segment-wise performance (quarter-on-quarter)
- Revenue from the natural gas business rose 21.4% to Rs 1,539.9 crore.
- LPG revenue up 10.4% to Rs 169.5 crore.
- Natural gas marketing revenue rose 11.2% to Rs 10,507 crore.
- Petchem revenue rose 37.8% to Rs 1,684 crore.
- LPG and liquid hydrocarbons revenue increased 7.4% to Rs 803 crore.
Shares of GAIL rose 3.2% after the quarterly results were announced, compared with a 1% gain in the benchmark Nifty 50.
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