GAIL India misses Q1 profit view as natural gas marketing drags

The company's standalone profit after tax fell to Rs 1412 crore in the quarter ended June 30, from Rs 2915 crore a year earlier.

GAIL (India) Ltd, the country's largest gas distributor, reported a lower-than-expected quarterly profit on Monday hurt by weak performance at its core natural gas marketing segment.

The company's standalone profit after tax fell to Rs 1412 crore ($171.67 million) in the quarter ended June 30, from Rs 2915 crore a year earlier. Analysts, on average, were expecting GAIL to earn Rs 1,606 crore, as per Refinitiv data.

The state-owned gas company's revenue from operations fell about 14 per cent to Rs 32,227 crore. Its natural gas marketing segment, which contributes 82.1 per cent of the total revenue, saw an 18 per cent drop in quarterly revenue.

During the quarter, GAIL's biggest natural gas marketing segment saw a 56.2 per cent slump in its profit. Its LPG and liquid hydrocarbons segment's profitability dropped 68% during the quarter.

The firm is reeling from the impact of a former unit of Russia-owned Gazprom Marketing and Trading's failure to deliver some liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes following western sanctions on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine last year.

GAIL had said it will get four LNG cargoes from Sefe in June, equivalent to the volumes it was getting under a deal with Sefe, a former unit of Russia's Gazprom.

Sefe resumed supplies to GAIL from March this year.

Additionally, GAIL revised the investment cost for a proposed propane plant to Rs11,256 crore from an initial investment of Rs 7823 crore.

GAIL's shares, which were trading up 4.6 per cent Monday morning, trimmed gains to be 1.3 per cent higher after results. ($1 = Rs 82.2490)