Other Income increased 56% to Rs 25.6 crore in Q4CY18 from Rs 16.4 crore in Q4CY17 while interest cost was Rs 0.3 crore and depreciation rose 42% to Rs 14.6 crore. As a result PBT was up 5% to Rs 328.1 crore. Effective rate of tax fell to 35.4% from 37% leading a 8% increase in PAT to Rs 211.9 crore.

For CY'18 Net Sales of the company was up 9% at Rs 3904.6 crore compared to corresponding previous year while bottomline increased 2% to Rs 708.3 crore. OPM fell 140 bps to 27.4% leading a 4% rise in operating profits to Rs 1070.8 crore. Other income increased 1% to Rs 84.3 crore while interest cost was Rs 1.1 crore and depreciation up 22% to Rs 55.6 crore. PBT as a result rose 3% to Rs 1098.4 crore. Effective rate of taxes rose to 35.5% from 35.3% leading a 2% increase in PAT to Rs 708.3 crore.

Commenting on the results, Omer Dormen, Managing Director, Castrol India Limited said: "2018 marked another year of solid performance as we recorded consistent growth for the third consecutive year. Continuous investment in our people, brands, distribution network, customer acquisition and advocacy efforts has helped us deliver on all our strategic priorities enabling us to grow ahead of the market, especially in retail, and to register profitable volume growth.We were able to protect our margins through appropriate pricing interventions and rigorous cost management despite an extremely volatile input cost environment. We introduced new and differentiated products in our portfolio that have contributed significantly to our volume growth during the year.

For the quarter under review, I am pleased with the strong performance delivery despite softening of key economic indicators as well as higher input costs which necessitated three price increases leading to higher price premiums in the market. We grew our revenue from operations by 6% q-o-q to INR 1,033 crore and 9% y-o-y to INR 3,905 crore leading to 8% PAT q-o-q to INR 212 crore and 2% PAT y-o-y to INR 708 crore. In line with our strategic agenda to drive growth and be future-ready, the Castrol India Limited Board has approved an expansion investment plan of Rs 140 crore at our state-of-the-art Silvassa plant. This investment, spread over the next two years, will scale up capacity at the Silvassa plant by 50%.

While we received many external awards through the year for our performance on Safety, Quality and Customer Excellence, we bagged the prestigious Golden Peacock Innovation Management Award 2018 award in this quarter for our innovative initiatives, processes and products.

This continued and consistent progress has set us up for greater success as we move forward."

The Board of Directors of the Company has at its meeting held on 30 January 2019 recommended a Final Dividend of INR 2.75 per share for Financial Year ended 31 December 2018 (2017: Final dividend INR 2.50 per share). This is in addition to an interim dividend of INR 2.25 per share (2017: INR 4.50 pre bonus issue per share)

The scrip is currently trading around Rs 144 on the BSE