GAIL Q3 net profit dips 92% to Rs 245 crore, stock tumbles 5%

Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL) on January 30 posted a 92 percent year-on-year decline in standalone profit after tax at Rs 245 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2022. Its net profit stood at Rs 3,287 crore in the year-ago period.

On a sequential basis, net profit was down 84 percent from Rs 1,537 crore.

The stock took a knock following the disappointing performance of the state-owned firm. At 2.15 pm, GAIL was down 5 percent at Rs 93.75 on the National Stock Exchange amid heavy volumes. Trading volumes at 17.3 million shares were higher than the 20-day average volume of 10 million shares. The stock is down 2 percent in 2023 so far.

Revenue from operations increased 37.2 percent YoY to Rs 35,380 crore. The purchase of stock in trade (or cost of goods) almost doubled to Rs 32,190 crore from Rs 17,590 crore.

Some segments posted losses compared to the year-ago period. Natural Gas Marketing posted a loss before interest and tax of Rs 86 crore, petrochemicals posted loss of Rs 348 crore and LPG & Liquid Hydrocarbons posted loss of Rs 29 crore at the EBIT level.

Kotak Institutional Equities in its preview note had said each of GAIL's segments faced headwinds in the quarter gone by."Transmission impacted by lower volumes, reduced APM (Administered Pricing Mechanism) allocation and high APM gas price; LPG impacted by declining LPG prices, and higher APM gas costs and petchem by reduced gas availability, leading to lower plant utilization," the firm noted.