Cairn India, on Monday, reported 48 per cent jump in its net profit. at Rs.3,344.89 crore in the third quarter of the current fiscal against Rs.2,322.18 crore in the year-ago period.
The profit was boosted by a foreign exchange gain of Rs.235.71 crore, as against a loss of Rs.785.81 crore in the preceding quarter.
The profit was up despite fall in oil price realisation — the company got $96.2 for every barrel of crude oil produced in the third quarter of the current fiscal, compared to $101.2 a barrel in the same period last fiscal.
Its earnings per share rose by 39 per cent to Rs.16.50 during the quarter from Rs.11.85 in the corresponding quarter in the previous fiscal.
During the quarter, gross production rose by 21 per cent to 205,114 barrels of oil equivalent a day. The company said it had got approval from the government for drilling exploratory wells within the producing oilfields in the Rajasthan block, a move that would help it add reserves. However, its income from operations declined by 4 per cent to Rs.4,278 crore, (quarter-on-quarter) after paying royalty for Rajasthan blocks in which it has 70 per cent participating interest. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation declined by 4.9 per cent to Rs.3,258 crore.
Rs.5 interim dividend
Cairn said it had decided to pay an interim dividend of Rs.5 a share.
