GAIL has reported a robust growth of 215.92 per cent in consolidated fourth-quarter profit to Rs 4,813,88 crore, driven by tax write-backs and a strong operating performance. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 1,523.73 crore in the same quarter of the previous fiscal.

Revenue from operations fell 5.97 per cent to Rs 17,938.08 crore compared with Rs 19,078.39 crore a year ago. The company received a tax credit of Rs 1,215.18 crore during the quarter under review.

The state-owned firm reported a 45.2 per cent rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 9,514.64 crore for the whole of 2019-20 against Rs 6,552.77 crore in 2018-19.

Indian Oil loss

State-owned refiner IOC has reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 7,782 crore for the March quarter. The company marked Rs 11,304.64 crore as “exceptional items” or a one-time loss. In the previous quarter, IOC had posted a net profit of Rs 6,004.88 crore. Average gross refining margin for 2019-20 is $0.08 per bbl compared with $5.41 per bbl a year earlier.

Indian Oil said because of the Covid-19 and changes in oil market scenario, there was a significant fall in oil prices, which led to writing down in valuation of inventories below cost of Rs 6,855.35 crore.

Berger Paints on recovery

Berger Paints anticipates a challenge in recovering business that was lost in the first two months of 2020-21 but remains optimistic of a progressive recovery towards the second half of the fiscal.

“April is usually a big month for us and there were hardly any sales because of the lockdown. Between April and May, we would have lost 14 per cent of the overall business. To recover that in the balance months is not going to be easy. But we are hopeful of pulling through,” said Berger Paints MD and CEO Abhijit Roy.

The company had posted a consolidated revenue from operation of Rs 6,365.82 crore for the year ended March 31, 2020, growing 5 per cent year on year.

“June has been positive and we expect to see a progressive return to normalcy. The second quarter will be better if demand holds true. We also have to evaluate how much of the demand in April has been postponed and how much is completely gone,” he said.

PCBL numbers

Phillips Carbon Black has reported a Rs 72.16 crore profit after tax in the fourth quarter of 2019-20 compared with Rs 74.43 crore in the same period previous fiscal. However, total revenue slumped to Rs 708.66 crore from Rs 929.31 crore a year ago.