Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) share price rose over 8 per cent in early trade on Thursday as it crossed the Rs 200 mark. The share price opened at Rs 199 before reaching a high of Rs 203 a piece on the NSE. HPCL is now trading around 33 per cent up from its 52-week low of Rs 150 a piece.
The surge comes a day after the company approved share buyback worth Rs 2500 crore from the open market route. It proposed to repurchase 10 crore shares at Rs 250 per share, which is 34 per cent higher than its stock’s closing price that stood at Rs 186.75 on Wednesday.
The company registered a net profit of Rs 2477.4 crore in the September quarter which is more than double compared to the corresponding figure of Rs 1,052.3 crore a year ago. However, the revenue declined by 14.9 per cent YoY, from Rs 60,868.4 crore to Rs 51,773.3 crore.
HPCL chairman MK Surana said that he believed the shares have much more intrinsic value than what is reflected in the market. “Therefore we think that we must unlock that value for our shareholders,” said Surana in a statement.
He attributed the improvement in profit, despite the disruption by Covid-19 pandemic, to the company’s “strategic planning in refinery and marketing operation, containing the de-growth to less than the industry, efficient inventory management and effective production placement.”
Owing to the lockdown, the company’s sales were down by over 48.5 per cent in April this year, compared to the same period a year ago. But following successive relaxations by the government, the demand of petroleum products picked up and has reached about 98 per cent in September against last year’s numbers.
HPCL earned USD 5.11 per barrel in refining crude oil to fuel during the quarter, a sharp increase from USD 2.83 per barrel last year. A lot of it has to do with the fall in global crude oil prices.
At 11:30 AM HPCL was trading at Rs 200.90, up Rs 14.15 or 7.58 per cent on the NSE.
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