July 16 (Citizen.lk News) The June quarter earnings season got underway with Lanka IOC PLC (LIOC) reporting lower top and bottom-line performance for the quarter caused by the repeated cuts to fuel prices in line with the softened global oil prices.
The company, the second largest fuel distributor next to the government owned Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CEYPETCO) reported revenues of Rs. 62.54 billion for the April – June quarter, down 14.6 percent from the same period a year ago.
Company’s share ended at Rs.133.00, down 25 cents or 0.19 percent before the earnings were released.
The cost of sales which predominantly consists of the fuel import cost fell by 13.8 percent on year to Rs. 57.74 billion.
Prices for oil at Brent, the international benchmark for oil fell during the April – June quarter, from US$ 74.49 to US$ 66.74 a barrel after briefly hitting US$ 78.85 on June 19 during the 12-day war between Israel and Iran.
This left the company with a gross profit of 4.79 billion for the quarter, down 23.3 percent from the same period last year.
The gross profit margin narrowed to 7.7 percent from 8.5 percent a year ago.
LIOC also engages in lubricant blending and sales under the brand, ‘Servo’ and commands the second largest market share.
The company is also into bunkering services, supplying bitumen and petro-chemicals.
It reported an operating profit of Rs.1.87 billion, down 45.7 percent from the same period in 2024.
The company reported earnings of Rs.4.36 a share or Rs.2.32 billion for the June quarter compared to Rs.7.09 a share or Rs.3.78 billion in the same period in 2024, logging a 38.5 percent decline.
LIOC was seen trimming its inventory to Rs.31.49 billion by the end of June from Rs.43.74 billion three months ago in a possible attempt by the company to bring its inventory closer to current prices which will enable the company to realign prices in line with the fuel pricing formula every month without crimping margins.
Meanwhile, the net finance cost came in at slightly above a billion rupees, not much changed from a year ago levels despite allocating a further Rs.9.0 billion into long term investments.
Indian Oil Corporation Limited, India holds 75.12 percent stake in LIOC while the Employees Provident Fund holds 0.44 percent stake being the company’s ninth largest shareholder.
