Castrol India Q4 sales up by 27 per cent, net up 20 per cent

Kolkata, Jan 24 (UNI) Castrol India registered a 27 per cent sales growth at Rs 563 crores and 20 per cent increase of net profit at Rs 68 crore in the fourth quarter of the current fiscal(calendar year).

A company release, declared today, said for the period October to December 2006, Profit before Tax grew by 67 per cent based on a turnover increase of 27 per cent over Q4 2005.

Gross Turnover for the year 2006 exceeded Rs 2000 crores with a 22 per cent growth over 2005.

The Board of Directors has announced a final dividend of Rs 5 per share in addition to an interim dividend of Rs 4 per share totalling to Rs 9 per share for the full year 2006 versus Rs 8.25 per share for 2005. Earning per share has increased from Rs 11.87 in 2005 to Rs 12.50 in 2006.

Commmenting on the results, Naveen Kashtriya, Managing Director, Castrol India Limited said, ''Despite an unprecedented increase of 37 per cent in raw material costs during the year, the company improved both top and bottom line performance.'' In the core lubes business, the company took actions to improve profits through proactive pricing and effective cost management, he said.

''In the automotive business, our focus segments have registered good volume growths. Our Industrial business has delivered an outstanding performance in both volume and margin terms Castrol Bikezone a motorcycle servicing business initiative was launched across the country. The company remained strongly committed to its Health, Safety and Environment agenda. We continue to pioneer driving and road safety,'' he said.

Castrol relaunched its flagship car tube brand Castrol GTX. It also added an additional 10 new products across the various market segments adding significant volumes. These products are expected to be the foundation for the future growth of the company, he added.

On the Industrial Lubricants front, the release said Castrol has successfully rolled out a new route to market initiative to reach the fast growing small and medium enterprise segment.

UNI