Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd.'s quarterly profit beat analysts' estimates as it benefited from a one-time tax reversal.
Net profit rose 55 percent sequentially to Rs 1,708.5 crore in the quarter ended September, the oil marketer said in an exchange filing. That's higher than the Rs 1,665 crore estimated by analysts tracked by Bloomberg.
Profitability was boosted by a tax reversal of Rs 580.3 crore based on “favourable judgments from Income Tax Appellate Authorities over multiple issues”. Without this, profit would have been lower than analysts' expectation.
- Revenue fell 15.7 percent to Rs 64,340.7 crore, compared to a Rs 72,710-crore estimate.
- Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation rose 9 percent to Rs 2,374.9 crore compared to the previous quarter.
- Ebitda margin expanded to 90 percent from 3.7 percent.
The results come at a time when the Indian government is mulling selling majority stake in Bharat Petroleum. On Sept. 30, the group of secretaries on government disinvestment gave its approval to sell the government's 53.29 percent stake in BPCL. The oil marketer's privatisation is likely to be completed by March 31, 2020.
Moody's Investor Service on October said it will downgrade the company's borrowings rating to ‘Ba1' if the government goes through with the privatisation plan.
The stock has gained over 42 percent so far this year compared to a 10.5 percent rise in the NSE Nifty 50 Index. It has risen 38 percent since Sept. 30 alone.
On Thursday, the BPCL stock closed 2.08 percent lower, ahead of the earnings announcement, while the benchmark BSE Sensex ended 0.45 percent up.
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