India's Mahanagar Gas Q1 profit rises on lower LNG prices

Indraprastha Gas

03/08/2023 13:28

BENGALURU, Aug 3 (Reuters) - India's Mahanagar Gas Ltd  MGAS.NS  reported a nearly two-fold jump in first-quarter
profit on Thursday following a drop in price of liquefied natural gas and feedstock.
    The natural gas distributor's profit after tax was 3.68 billion rupees ($44.5 million) in the three months ended June 30,
compared with 1.85 billion rupees a year earlier, the state-backed company said in an exchange filing. 
    Total revenue from operations rose 6.1% to 16.9 billion rupees.   
    For further earnings highlights, click:  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nFWN39K17V
        
  
    KEY CONTEXT
    Analysts at Centrum predicted improved performance for city gas distribution companies, including Mahanagar Gas, after
natural gas costs fell and gas volumes increased. 
    However, rival Indraprastha Gas  IGAS.NS  missed estimates on lower natural gas, as well as, industrial and commercial
volumes. 
    Mahanagar Gas has been steadily increasing profit since September.
    
   PEER COMPARISON
                                   Valuation (next  Estimates (next          Analysts' sentiment          
                                     12 months)       12 months)                                          
                        RIC        PE      EV/EBIT  Revenue  profit  Mean    Number    Stock to price     Div yield (%)
                                           DA       growth   growth  rating  of        target**           
                                                                     *       analysts                     
 Mahanagar Gas Ltd       MGAS.NS    11.97     7.26   -8.10    8.16   BUY           20        0.95         2.37
 Indraprastha Gas Ltd    IGAS.NS    17.55    11.22   -7.91   11.96   BUY           18        0.85         2.86
 Gujarat Gas Ltd         GGAS.NS    20.32    12.76   4.93     1.51   HOLD          18        0.90         0.42
 Gail (India) Ltd        GAIL.NS     9.11     7.44   -2.97   39.76   BUY           17        0.90         6.88
    
 * Mean of analysts' ratings standardised to a scale of Strong Buy, Buy, Hold, Sell, and Strong Sell
 ** Ratio of the stock's last close to analysts' mean price target; a ratio above 1 means the stock is trading above the PT
    
    APRIL - JUNE STOCK PERFORMANCE
 
 
    -- All data from Refinitiv
    -- $1 = 82.7090 Indian rupees

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April - June Stock Performance - Mahanagar Gas    https://tmsnrt.rs/3KoGZnY
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 (Reporting by Navamya Ganesh Acharya in Bengaluru; Editing by Dhanya Ann Thoppil)
 ((Navamya.GaneshAcharya@thomsonreuters.com; +91 8805175330 ;))