(Reuters) -Indian state-run refiner Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL) reported a rise in second-quarter profit on Wednesday, reflecting higher refining margins across its operations.
Standalone net profit rose more than six fold to 38.3 billion rupees ($435.75 million) in the three months ended September.
HPCL’s gross refining margin – the profit from making refined products from one barrel of oil – rose to $8.80 per barrel for the quarter as compared to $3.12 reported last year.
For further results highlights, (click here)
KEY CONTEXT
India, the world’s third largest oil importer and consumer, witnessed an uptick in fuel demand for two of the three months between July and September.
Global Brent crude oil prices – used by refiners as raw material – dropped about 1% in July-September quarter.
Earlier this week, rival Indian Oil Corp (IOC) posted a multi-fold jump in second-quarter profit, boosted by stronger refining margins.
BPCL is yet to report quarterly results.
PEER COMPARISON
Valuation (next Estimates (next 12 Analysts’ sentiment
12 months) months)
RIC PE EV/EBITDA Revenue Profit Mean No. of Stock to Div
growth (%) growth rating* analyst price yield
(%) s target** (%)
Hindustan 7.25 6.79 -0.08 20.79 Buy 14 0.94 2.39
Petroleum Corp
Bharat Petroleum 7.93 6.20 1.64 4.48 Buy 20 0.89 3.03
Corporation
Indian Oil 8.78 6.68 1.03 25.43 Buy 18 0.95 2.00
Corporation
Reliance 22.32 11.30 6.72 13.01 Buy 34 0.86 0.38
Industries
* The mean of analyst ratings standardised to a scale of Strong Buy, Buy, Hold, Sell, and Strong Sell
** The 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 = 87.8950 rupees
(Reporting by Manvi Pant; Editing by Leroy Leo)
