Gulf Oil expects lubricant division to grow 20%

Despite pressure from global crude oil prices, Gulf Oil Corporation, a Hinduja Group company is confident of maintaining at least 20% growth in revenues from lubricants in the current fiscal, a top executive of the company said on Thursday.

Subhas Pramanik, managing director, Gulf Oil also said the company is scouting for partners for its newly demerged entity -IDL Explosives Limited.
The company reported Rs 57 crore net profit on an income of Rs 1102.5 crore in the last fiscal. Revenues from lubricants division stood at Rs 682 crore in FY11 as against Rs 564 crore in FY11 showing a growth of 21%.

"There is pressure on the financials due to rise in prices of base oils. However we see a 20% growth in lubricants sales. We are confident of maintaining growth with our brand building exercise," Pramanik told media persons.

The company spent Rs 34.5 crore towards brand building including advertisements last year and has plans to increase the ad budget this year, he said.

The company's sponsorship of IPL-III winners Chennai Super Kings in addition to continuation of sponsorship relation with the Kings XI Punjab helped to build brand awareness amongst the cricket loving audiences across India, Pramanik remarked.

Replying to question, Pramanik said they are looking for partners for the explosives Division.

"We are exploring technical and financial collaborations either with a local or a foreign partner. We hope to finalise this by end of the fiscal. The idea is not only to get into new generation technologies but also get more volumes in terms of revenues and profits," he explained.