Bharat Petroleum Corp., the state-owned refiner being sold by the Indian government, reported a record quarterly profit thanks to revenues from the sale of a unit before its own privatization.
Net income jumped to 119.4 billion rupees ($ 1.6 billion) in the three months ended March 31, after losing 13.6 billion rupees in the same period last year , according to an exchange dossier on Wednesday. This includes an exceptional gain of 94.22 billion rupees from the sale of Numaligarh Refinery Ltd.
“In an unprecedented year that began with a lockdown across the country and moderate business and economic activity, the fourth quarter was a remarkable quarter that helped the company record its strongest growth on record in terms of of net income, â€said CFO N. Vijayagopal. in a statement sent by email. “We saw a V-shaped recovery in the second half of the year, which translated into strong growth in fuel sales.â€
The second state refiner sold its entire stake in the Numaligarh refinery to a consortium of state-owned companies – Oil India Ltd. and Engineers India Ltd. – and to the government of the State of Assam for 98.8 billion rupees.
He used part of the proceeds to repay some loans and announced a total dividend of 58 rupees per share. Most of that money will go to the federal government, which owns 53% of the money. 100 of the company. The company reduced its debt ratio to 0.48 as of March 31 from 1.26 a year earlier.
The government authorized the bidders access to Bharat Petroleum’s financial data in April with a view to its sale.
India hopes to complete the process in the current fiscal year, even if the second wave of the Covid-19 epidemic could slow it down. The sale, which is said to be the largest in the country, is crucial for the government which is badly in need of funds to make up for a shortfall in tax revenue due to the pandemic.
