Other Income decreased 6% to Rs 15.3 crore in Q4CY20 from Rs 16.2 crore in Q4CY19 while interest cost was Rs 8 lakh and depreciation rose 22% to Rs 22.3 crore. As a result PBT before EO was down 21% to Rs 266.6 crore. The company reported EO expense of Rs 16.8 crore towards one time organization transformation and restructuring programme implemented during the year compared to nil in the corresponding previous year period. PBT after EO fell 26% to Rs 249.8 crore. Effective rate of tax rose 490 bps to 24.9% leading a 31% decrease in PAT to Rs 187.7 crore.

For CY'20 Net Sales of the company was down 23% to Rs 2996.9 crore compared to corresponding previous year while bottomline decreased 30% to Rs 582.9 crore. OPM fell 190 bps to 27.8% leading a 28% fall in operating profits to Rs 833.6 crore. Other income decreased 4% to Rs 62 crore while interest cost was Rs 4.2 crore and depreciation was up 24% to Rs 86.6 crore. PBT before EO as a result fell 30% to Rs 804.8 crore. The company reported EO expense of Rs 16.8 crore towards one time organization transformation and restructuring programme implemented during the year compared to nil in the corresponding previous year period. PBT after EO fell 32% to Rs 785.3 crore. Effective rate of taxes fell 210 bps to 25.8% leading a 30% decrease in PAT to Rs 582.9 crore.

"Castrol India Limited delivered a resilient financial performance for FY 2020 in a difficult year marked by the pandemic and ensuing external challenges.

2020 has been a story of two halves. While we continued with our priorities through the year, keeping safety and wellbeing of our people and supporting communities we operate in at the fore, we gained good momentum in the second half with the partial revival of demand. In H2 2020, revenue improved by 54% at Rs 1,818 crore while profit from operations was 122% higher at Rs 501 crore versus H1 2020.

In Q4 2020, we continued to invest in our key brands with a significant increase in our marketing and advertising spends year-on-year (Rs 65 crore in Q4 2020 versus Rs 11 crore in Q4 2019),which helped in achieving a top-line growth of 6% versus 3Q 2020. We expect the positive impact of this investment to continue going forward.

We have also taken actions to prepare the business for growth in the future including corrective pricing actions for our commercial vehicles portfolio which has yielded double digit volume growth in the last quarter as well as inventory reduction for distributors to help improve their working capital.

We continued to invest in digital technology and efficiency programmes leading to robust working capital management and judicious cost management thus generating healthy cash flow from operations for FY 2020 of Rs 893 crore which is 1.5 times of Profit After Tax.

With the pioneering and innovative spirit that Castrol is known for, we continued to invest in cutting edge technology, as we launched our all new premium range of two-wheeler lubricants in Q4 2020, Castrol POWER1 ULTIMATE, developed with full synthetic technology for bikes, sports bikes and scooters offering both protection and performance for riders.

Castrol lubricants is now available across over 1,350 Jio-bp sites and has seen good uptake, ensuring a much wider reach and easy accessibility of our premium quality lubricants in the recently launched Jio-bp channel.

The Castrol India business has been focused on driving sustained profitable growth displaying operational resilience and performance in 2020. We were recognised externally for consistent delivery and performance as JCB awarded us as best supplier for 2020."

The Board of Directors of the company has at its meeting held on 1 February 2021 recommended a final dividend of Rs. 3.00 per share (2019: Second Interim Dividend Rs. 3.00 per share) for Financial Year ended 31 December 2020. This is in addition to an interim dividend of Rs. 2.50 per share (2019: Rs. 2.50 per share).

The scrip is currently trading around Rs 129 on the BSE