Bangladesh’s Eastern Lubricants Blenders Ltd. reported steep drops in profit and revenue for the quarter ending Dec. 31 last year, which is the second quarter of its fiscal year 2021-2022.
The blender of lubricating oils and greases reported a net profit of 1.2 million taka for the quarter, a 58% decline from Tk 2.9 million in the same quarter in 2020. The company posted a Tk 2.6 million operating loss for the quarter, falling further from a Tk 1.2 million operating loss.
The company turned a profit despite having an operating loss because of Tk 4.5 million in non-operating income for the second quarter of the current year. For the same period of last year, non-operating income was Tk 5.4 million.
Revenue dropped 85% to Tk 6 million in this year’s second quarter, down from Tk 39.1 million.
Headquartered in Chittagong, Bangladesh, Eastern Lubricants is a subsidiary of Bangladesh Petroleum Corp., which is state owned. In the past, the company focused on supplying blended lubricants to three sister subsidiary companies – Padma Oil, Meghna Petroleum and Jamuna Oil Co. That business declined because private lubricant suppliers took much of those companies’ market share, so Eastern investigated other avenues to supplement its income, including the sale of bitumen.
Base oil trading previously was profitable for Eastern but was not a consistent source of income. For example, for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020, it had recorded no base oil sales.
For the first six months of its fiscal year 2021-2022, which ended Dec. 31, the company again reported zero revenue from base oils. That compared to Tk 13.8 million for the July-December period in 2020. Sales of bitumen were up 66% at Tk 45.5 million for the six-month period.