For the quarter ending March 31, MJL Bangladesh Ltd. and Pakistan’s Hi-Tech Lubricants both reported higher profit and sales. Hi-Tech noted that its lubricants business has benefited from growth in Pakistan’s automobile industry and a rebound in economic activity.
MJL Bangladesh
Dhaka-based MJL Bangladesh reported that its first quarter net profit grew 25% to 699.8 million takas (U.S. $8.3 million) for the quarter ending March 31, up from 560.2 million taka in the same period in 2020.
The company’s net sales revenue for the first quarter increased 2% to 5.1 billion takas.
MJL Bangladesh is a joint venture between state-owned Jamuna Oil Co. and EC Securities Ltd. It supplies ExxonMobil’s Mobil brand of lubricants – some blended by MJL, some imported – and its Omera Lubricants.
Hi-Tech Lubricants
Lahore-based Hi-Tech Lubricants reported consolidated net profit skyrocketed 385% to 203.2 million Pakistani rupees (U.S. $1.3 million) for the quarter ending March 31 – the third quarter of the company’s fiscal year that ends on June 30 – up from Rs 41.9 million in the year-earlier period.
Net sales for the quarter reached Rs 2.6 billion, a 63% increase. The blender’s other income increased 25% to Rs 29.1 million for the quarter.
For the nine months ended March 31, Hi-Tech posted an Rs 508 million profit, improving from an Rs 92.4 million net loss in the same period in 2019-2020. Nine-month revenue for the lubricants segment rose 61% to Rs 5.8 billion, improving from Rs 3.6 billion.
In the director’s review, the company noted its wholly owned subsidiary – Hi-Tech Blending (Private) Ltd. – played an important role in the growth of its lubricants segment. The plant started local blending of Fighter Brands – in-house production of South Korea’s SK Lubricants’ Zic Lubricants – in November 2018 and during the period under review saw a 92% volumetric growth in this product line over the same period a year earlier.
The company noted that Pakistan’s automobile industry witnessed significant growth due to new entrants in the market and a rebound in economic activity. Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association released its latest auto sales data for nine months ended March 21, portraying an increase of 36% year on year basis to 134,718 units, which Hi-Tech said was a healthy sign for the company’s lubricants segment. To reap benefits of the growth in
the automobile sector, the company signed contracts with Hyundai Nishat Motors (Private) Ltd. and M/S Regal Automobile Industries Ltd. for use of Zic lubricants in their aftersales service in all variants of cars sold by them.