Castrol India Ltd. reported slightly higher profits and sales for the quarter ending Sept. 30, saying it managed pricing and costs to protect margins impacted by rising base oil and additives costs that were driven by extreme inflation and other factors.
“The third quarter witnessed [foreign exchange market] pressures, along with extreme inflationary pressures arising from volatile crude oil prices, leading to rising costs of additives and base oil,” Sandeep Sangwan, managing director of Castrol India, said in its earnings news release. “To safeguard our margins and deliver bottom line growth, we employed rigorous pricing and cost management.”
Fellow Indian company Apar Industries Ltd. reported a large jump in profit and increased transformer and specialty oil sales for the quarter.
Castrol India reported that its profit after tax edged up 1% to Rs 187.2 crore (Rs 1.9 billion or U.S. $22.6 million) in the third quarter.
The company said its revenue increased 4% to Rs 1,121.1 crore in the quarter, compared to Rs 1,073.2 crore.
Sangwan noted the company is extending into the automotive aftercare market and into service and maintenance, adding new Castrol Auto Service centers and Castrol Express Oil change outlets across India. “In addition to our current alliances, we are also exploring further collaborations with electric vehicle OEMs to help advance electric mobility in India and supporting mechanics to get EV-ready.”
Apar reported profit after tax jumped 99% to Rs 111.6 crore for the quarter, the second quarter of its fiscal year, compared to Rs 56 crore.
Standalone revenues from Apar’s transformer and specialty oil segment rose 18% to Rs 846.1 crore, compared to Rs 718.1 crore.
In its earnings presentation, Apar said consolidated revenue specifically for lubricants decreased 2% to Rs 207 crore for the quarter.
Apar’s lubricants sales volume declined 1% to 16,595 kiloliters (14,900 metric tons). Automotive sales volume declined 11% in the quarter, which the company attributed to demand compression across all specialty oil and lubricant categories in India and in all the markets that Apar actively services.