(Reuters) – India’s top refiner Indian Oil Corp (IOC) posted a nearly 99% drop in its second-quarter profit on Monday, as narrowing marketing margins hurt.
The state-owned firm’s standalone net profit plunged to 1.8 billion rupees ($21.4 million) for the three months ending Sept. 30.
Analysts had expected a profit of 42.78 billion rupees, according to data compiled by LSEG.
IOC’s average gross refining margin for April-September fell to $4.08 per barrel from $13.12 per barrel a year earlier.
KEY CONTEXT
India, the world’s third-largest oil importer and consumer, usually experiences a drop in fuel demand during the four-month monsoon season starting in June. This decline is largely because of flooding in various regions, which hampers mobility.
India’s fuel consumption dropped year-on-year in August and September, hitting a two-year low in the latter month.
Global crude oil prices dropped nearly 17% in the quarter ended September.
Analysts predict refining margins will stay muted on weak Chinese demand and rising refinery capacity.
Last week, smaller peers Bharat Petroleum Corp and Hindustan Petroleum Corp also reported a lower profit.
PEER COMPARISON
Valuation (next 12 Estimates (next 12 Analysts’ sentiment
months) months)
RIC PE EV/EBI Price Revenue profit Mean # of Stock to Div yield (%)
TDA /Sale growth growth rating analyst price
s * s target **
Indian Oil Corp 8.88 6.32 – 1.70 -26.38 Hold 20 0.88 7.83
Bharat Petroleum 10.43 7.19 – 0.77 -24.62 Hold 21 0.96 6.53
Corp
Hindustan 9.24 7.50 – -1.80 -16.79 Hold 15 1.04 5.19
Petroleum Corp
Reliance 22.29 11.10 1.85 6.67 11.34 Buy 32 0.84 0.37
Industries
* Mean of analysts’ ratings standardised to a scale of Strong Buy, Buy, Hold, Sell, and Strong Sell ** Ratio of the stock’s last close to analysts’ mean price target; a ratio above 1 means the stock is trading above the PT
JULY-SEPTEMBER STOCK PERFORMANCE
**
**
— All data from LSEG
— $1 = 84.0750 rupees
(Reporting by Yagnoseni Das in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)
