Gulf Oil continues growth momentum
Gulf Oil Lubricants India Limited, a Hinduja Group company, during the quarter to September 30, 2018, has clocked strong volume growth across business segments to achieve net revenues of Rs 417.21 crore and profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 40.29 crore. On year-on-year (YoY) basis, net revenue increased by 29.19% to Rs 417.21 crore from its base of Rs 322.95 crore in the previous year September quarter.
On half yearly basis, the company achieved net revenue of Rs 807.57 crore and PAT of Rs 80.42 crore. With net revenue of Rs 603.00 crore in the previous year September period, YoY growth in net revenue in H1 is at 33.93%.
While the EBIDTA of the company has grown at healthy 15% YoY, the profit before tax has been impacted mainly due to forex losses (largely Mark To Market on unhedged foreign currency exposures) in view of very steep rupee depreciation during the quarter and higher depreciation YoY for its recently-commissioned Chennai plant.
The company continued its growth momentum during Q2 recording a very robust volume growth of 22% in its core business (overall Q2 volume growth around 30% including non-regular institutional sales during the quarter). There has been growth across all business segments and product categories with DEO, PCMO & MCO all delivering double-digit volume growth. This augurs well as the Q2 growth follows a strong volume growth achieved in the previous quarter by the company.
“The robust volume growth of 22% achieved during the quarter in our core business reflects well on the company’s continued excellent performance beating industry growth by more than 4 times. Achieving such a volume growth and delivering an EBIDTA growth in upwards of 15% YoY in a very uncertain economic environment where rising crude prices and steep Rupee depreciation impacted the market sentiments, assures us that our various initiatives around distribution, brand building, etc are showing positive impacts. New OEM tie-ups and other B2B customer acquisitions have also helped us grow volumes across all our focus segments and grow our market share and consolidated our position as the fastest growing lubricants company in the country in the last many years,” Ravi Chawla, Managing Director, Gulf Oil Lubricants India Limited, said.
Gulf Oil continued its investments in its brands across categories. Gulf Pride 4T Plus, its leading MCO brand was re-launched and the new pack with refreshed look and feel hit retail shelves across the country. A new Endurance series of Greases was launched under the brand name of Gulf Crown with completely new look and the Customer Value Proposition (CVP) of longer life.
A Gulf Master Mechanic, a mechanic loyalty programme, was rolled out across 20 towns in the country and again was received with excitement and positive reviews from mechanics who are key influencers in the purchase decision-making process in the lubricant industry.
In a recent development, Tata Motors and Gulf Oil signed an agreement to launch a range of cobranded lubricants for its passenger vehicles segment in the bazaar segment. The products launched under this range would cover the entire gamut of requirements of Tata Motors Passenger vehicles business, which would include engine oil, gear oil, coolant and brake oil. Additionally, the product range would offer best technology for Tata Motors’ consumers and will be continuously upgraded from time to time depending on the requirements. The agreement will leverage Gulf Oil’s extensive distribution network to make it easily available to customers.
The newly commissioned Chennai plant has secured the IGBC (Indian Green Building Council) Gold rating - certifying the deployment of green concepts like deployment of solar panels and use of 100% natural light to save electricity; sewage treatment plant and rainwater harvesting for water conservation etc - designed to reduce environmental impacts in a measurable way at this facility.