BENGALURU (Reuters) – Engine oil maker Castrol India reported a 25% rise in fourth-quarter profit on Thursday, aided by higher demand for its automobile lubrication products.
The company, which derives about three-fourths of its volumes from passenger and commercial vehicles, benefitted from sustained growth in auto sales and maintenance demand in the world’s third-largest car market.
Castrol India’s profit after tax came in at 2.42 billion rupees ($29.2 million), up from 1.93 billion rupees a year ago, it said in an exchange filing.
Its revenue rose 7.5% to 12.64 billion rupees.
The company sees “steady inflation and a positive shift in consumer confidence”, Chief Financial Officer Deepesh Baxi said in a statement, as it expands its hold onto rural India and tries to warm up with inflation-weary two-wheeler owners.
Its expenses, however, inched up 1.5%, led by employee expenses and other spends, even as input costs stayed largely flat. The company did not specify what these other spends entailed.
Shares of Castrol India ended 3.6% lower before the results were announced.
($1 = 82.9713 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Hritam Mukherjee and Nandan Mandayam in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)
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