Petronet LNG on Wednesday reported that it has posted a 31 per cent fall in net profit to ₹169.3 crore for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014 against ₹245.14 crore for the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal.

In a statement to the BSE, it said that total income has increased from ₹8,487.86 crore for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2013 to ₹10,458.55 crore for the corresponding quarter of fiscal 2014.

“The throughput during the year has marginally decreased by about 6 per cent over the previous year on account of sluggishness of natural gas demand in the country,” the company said in a statement.

The turnover, however, registered an increase of 20 per cent over the previous year — primarily due to higher liquefied natural gas prices and depreciation of the rupee against the dollar, it added.

Capitalisation of the terminal at Kochi added significant costs on account of interest and depreciation, the statement said.

For the full year, the company saw a drop in net profit by around 38 per cent to ₹711.92 crore for the year ended March 31, 2014 (₹1,149.28 crore the previous year).

Total income increased from ₹31,556.14 crore for fiscal 2013 to ₹37,831.33 crore for fiscal 2014.

The board has recommended a dividend at 20 per cent on paid-up share capital of the company (that is ₹2 per share) for the year ended March 31, 2014. The company also said it has received the necessary clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests for its proposed 5 million tonnes a year greenfield LNG terminal at Gangavaram.

It awaits approval of the State Government to go ahead with the project.

Pre-qualification of EPC contractors is in progress, the statement added.

On Wednesday, the company’s shares ended 0.97 per cent higher at ₹145.05 on the BSE.

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