BPCL pays 33 %

MUMBAI, May 28: Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) has maintained the dividend at 33 % for the year ended March 1997. The company has ...

MUMBAI, May 28: Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) has maintained the dividend at 33 % for the year ended March 1997. The company has come out a net profit of Rs 432.6 crore for the year, showing a growth of 12.3 % over the previous year’s figure of Rs 385.8 crore.

The sales turnover rose by 21.4 % to Rs 17,989.2 crore from Rs 14,822.8 crore in the previous year. Gross profit was Rs 895.4 crore as against Rs 870.8 crore. The proposed dividend will claim Rs 49.5 crore. The earnings per share (EPS) has gone up to Rs 28.84 from Rs 25.72 in the previous year.

The corporation’s networth as on March 31 this year was Rs 2,084.9 crore.

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The sales volume for the year was 15.8 million tonnes a growth of 6.89 %. The refinery, with a capacity of six million tonnes, processed an all-time high 7.59 million tonnes of crude during the year, translating as a capacity utilisation of 126 %.

BPCL commissioned 64 new retail outlets and 17 SKO/LDO dealerships bringing the total number to 4,367 and 967 respectively. The corporation also increased its LPG distributorships by 85 to 1,147.

It plans to invest Rs 8,000 crore in several projects, inclusive of the Mumbai-Manmad pipeline costing Rs 399 crore, a gas oil desulphurisation unit at the refinery for Rs 591 crore and coastal oil terminals at Haldia, Paradip and Kakinada costing Rs 310 crore.

The corporation also plans to set up 30 new LPG bottling plants at a cost of Rs 758 crore during the ninth plan. A LPG import facility is being planned at Paradip for Rs 156 crore and a coastal installation at the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust along with Indian Oil Corporation for Rs 239 crore.