LIOC, Sri Lanka’s only listed fuel distributor reported revenue of Rs.73.52 billion in the July – September quarter in 2024, up 19.2 percent from the same period last year. This is despite at least a couple of new players entering the market after the downstream operations were liberalised in 2022, following the fuel shortage.

But cost of sales was up at a faster 27.3 percent to Rs.68.61 billion.This puts a dent on the gross margin which fell by a half to 6.7 percent from 12.6 percent in the year earlier period. The company reported earnings of Rs.4.74 a share or Rs.2.53 billion for the quarter compared to Rs.9.50 a share or Rs.5.06 billion in the year earlier period, logging a 50.1 percent slump in profits.

The government cut the price of the fuel at the pump several times during the quarter in line with the decline in global oil prices as fuel prices are now determined by a cost-reflective pricing formula since the middle of 2022.