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GAIL (India) Ltd reported a 31 per cent increase in net profit for the December quarter at ₹1,679 crore on higher prices and realisations from a partial stake sale in China Gas. The Government’s move to exempt the company from paying subsidy also boosted the bottomline.
Revenue for the quarter rose 28 per cent to ₹15,980 crore against the corresponding last quarter’s ₹12,474 crore.
GAIL Chairman and Managing Director BC Tripathi attributed the profit growth to higher gas prices and volumes. Excluding the China Gas sale net proceeds of ₹345 crore, growth in the company’s December quarter profit stood at 9 per cent.
“We bought the shares at $1.15 and sold them at $8.2 apiece” Tripathi said, adding GAIL still owned a 3 per cent stake in China Gas. The company sold about 60 million shares of the 210 million shares it owned in the Chinese company. Tracking the results, GAIL shares ended marginally higher at ₹346.3 on the BSE, on Wednesday.
Tripathi said the Government had decided to cap GAIL’s contribution towards fuel subsidy at ₹1,400 crore, and this has already been paid in the first half of the current fiscal year. As a result, the company will not pay any subsidy in the third and fourth quarters.
GAIL sold 8.6 million standard cubic metres a day (mscmd) of imported LNG in the December quarter against 3.2 mscmd in the corresponding last quarter. However, the volume of gas transmitted through its pipeline was about 12 mscmd less due to the lower availability from the Panna Mukta and Tapti fields.
Tripathi said GAIL imported about eight cargoes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) during the quarter against three cargoes a year ago. In the March quarter, GAIL expects to bring in about seven cargoes, taking the total to 26 for the full fiscal year.
Responding to a query, Tripathi said GAIL may tie up with Japanese utility Chubu Electric Power Co to jointly procure LNG. “We are in discussions with them and will shortly be able to sign an MoU,” he added.
The GAIL board will meet on February 6 to consider an interim dividend for the current fiscal.
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