【james d gish age】CORRECTED: India's 2016 Iran oil imports hit record high - trade
(Corrects 4th paragraph in story from Jan 13 to say that India's Dec imports from Iran more than doubled from a year ago)
By Nidhi Verma
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's annual oil imports from Iran surged to a record high in 2016 as some refiners resumed purchases after the lifting of sanctions against Tehran,james d gish age according to ship tracking data and a report compiled by Thomson Reuters Oil Research and Forecasts.
The sharp increase propelled Iran into fourth place among India's suppliers in 2016, up from seventh position in 2015. It used to be India's second-biggest supplier before sanctions.
For the year, the world's third biggest oil consumer bought about 473,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil from Iran to feed expanding refining capacity, up from 208,300 bpd in 2015, the data showed.
In December, imports from Iran more than doubled from a year earlier to about 546,600 bpd.
In 2015 refiners had slowed purchases due to sanctions which choked payment routes, insurance and halved Iran's exports.
Indian refiners Reliance Industries, Hindustan Petroleum, Bharat Petroleum and HPCL-Mittal Energy Ltd (HMEL) last year resumed imports from Tehran, attracted by the discount offered by Iran.
"In most of 2016 there was a fight among Gulf producers to increase their market share and lifting of sanctions against Iran has intensified that fight," said Ehsan ul Haq, senior analyst at London-based consultancy KBC Energy Economics.
In April-December, the first nine months of this fiscal year, Iranian supplies to India averaged a record 530,300 bpd, up from about 400,000 bpd before sanctions tightened against Tehran.
India's 2016 Iranian oil imports were the highest in at least six years, according to the Reuters data.
Government data going back over a longer period shows the average was the highest since the 2001-02 fiscal year.
Overall, India imported 4.3 million bpd oil in 2016, up 7.4 percent from the previous year.
MIDDLE EAST JUMP
Rising imports from Iran and Iraq lifted the Middle Eastern share in India's crude diet to 64 percent in 2016, reversing a declines in recent years, partly due to rising prices for Atlantic Basin oil tied to Brent.
The average premium for Brent jumped against Dubai crude to more than $3 a barrel in 2016 from around $1.80 in 2015.
"In 2016 Iran ramped up its output to regain market share while Iraq segregated its production into Basra Light and Heavy to attract customers. Basra Heavy was sold at a discount, making it more attractive than rival grades," said Haq.
Iran's share of Indian oil imports surged to 11 percent in 2016 from 5 percent in 2015.
Saudi Arabia remained the top supplier to India last year followed by Iraq and Venezuela.
Imports from Latin America declined for a second year, with its share of imports shrinking to about 16 percent from 18 percent, while Africa's share fell to about 15 percent from a fifth.
"Low oil prices brought down production in Latin America while Nigerian barrels were impacted by violence in the Niger Delta. Also falling U.S. oil output impacted trade flows, with some Latin American and African oil finding a place in the U.S.," Haq said.
(Reporting by Nidhi Verma; Editing by Sonali Paul)
View comments
(责任编辑：Fashion)
下一篇：Galleon Gold Acquires Additional Interest in the Neal Gold Project and Increases Previously Announced Private Placement
- ·Stericycle (SRCL) Tops Q3 Earnings and Revenue Estimates
- ·Rosneft seeking further tax breaks for Russia's largest oilfield -ministry
- ·Does Elisa Oyj (HEL:ELISA) Have A Place In Your Portfolio?
- ·BRIEF-My EG Services Says Unit Received Letter Of No Objection In Relation To Launch Of iPpayEasy E-Wallet
- ·CohBar To Target COVID-19 Associated Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) with its Apelin Receptor Agonist Peptides
- ·Duke Energy's $1.5B Natural Gas Plant Comes Online in Florida
- ·Q&A: O'Melveny Practice Leader Covers the Sports-Betting Blitz
- ·Nexon founder to sell controlling stake in gaming co's holding firm - Korea Economic Daily
- ·5%, led by a 17% increase in average ticket and a slight decline in traffic. Growth in the quarter reflected the impact of households stocking up on essentials like paper goods and cleaning supplies as the pandemic became a nationwide concern, along with strength in discretionary categories as the quarter came to a close and stimulus dollars and tax refunds were disbursed.
As shown below, the results in the quarter materially changed the trend in two-year stacked comps for each of the banners, along with a significant acceleration for consolidated comps.
The increase in consolidated comps was the primary driver of an 8% increase in revenues to $6.3 billion. The company ended the quarter with 15,370 locations, up less than 1% year-over-year. This reflects a 7% increase in Dollar Tree units, offset by a 4% decline in Family Dollar units.
The top-line results at each banner flowed through to their respective income statements, with Dollar Tree gross margins and operating margins declining year-over-year while Family Dollar gross margins and operating margins expanded year-over-year. On a consolidated basis, gross margins contracted by 120 basis points in the quarter to 28.5%, reflective of a shift to lower-margin consumables, tariff costs and the impact of markdowns from the Easter headwinds at the Dollar Tree banner. The company saw slight operating leverage on SG&A from higher comps, with the net result being an 80 basis point contraction in operating margins to 5.8%, with operating income declining 5% to $366 million. This is not adjusted for $73 million of pandemic-related costs, such as PPE supplies.
In the first quarter, the company opened 85 stores (net of closures) and completed 220 Family Dollar renovations to the H2 format. Importantly, comps at renovated Family Dollar stores continue to outpace the chain average by more than 10%. On the call, management indicated that they plan on reducing both the number of new store openings (from 550 to 500) and the number of H2 renovations (from 1,250 to 750) in 2020.
Personally, given the fact that Family Dollar is seeing material benefits to its business from the pandemic with new or lapsed customers coming into its stores, I think the company should try to get more aggressive with its renovation plans, not less. On the other hand, you could argue that renovations cause short-term disruptions and limit their ability to fully capitalize on the business momentum they are currently experiencing.
As a result of fewer new stores and remodels, management now expects 2020 capital expenditures to total $1.0 billion compared to previous guidance of $1.2 billion. In addition, the company has temporarily suspended share repurchases. At quarter's end, the company had $1.8 billion in cash on its balance sheet compared to $4.3 billion in total debt.
Conclusion
In recent years, Dollar Tree has been a tale of two cities. While its namesake banner has generally delivered impressive financial results, Family Dollar has been a persistent underperformer. This quarter, those results flipped, and given what we've seen in the weeks since quarter's end, there's a decent possibility that we will see something similar in the coming months. As the CEO noted, the second quarter is off to a very good start at Family Dollar.
Here's the important question: how useful is that information is in terms of making future predictions about the business? Will recent success at Family Dollar translate into long-term success for the banner? The optimistic take is that new or lapsed customers, especially those visiting the renovated stores, could become recurring business for the banner. The pessimistic take is that they have experienced short-term success out of necessity as people went to any store that was open to try and find essentials like toilet paper and hand sanitizer that were largely out of stock throughout the retail landscape. From that view, many of these customers could abandon the retailer when life returns to normal. As Philbin noted on the conference call, early on [during the pandemic], folks needed us. Will people still shop as much at Family Dollar when it's no longer a necessity?
Personally, I do not place too much weight on the recent results. I will need to see incremental data points that indicate that Family Dollar has truly won sustained business from these new customers. While I still believe that the Dollar Tree banner is a well-positioned retailer with attractive unit returns, I'm not yet willing to say the same thing for Family Dollar. For that reason, along with the recent run-up in the stock price, I plan on staying on the sidelines for now.
Disclosure: None
Read more here:
Under Armour: A Tough Start to 2020
Walmart: Continued Omni-Channel Progress
Match: An Impressive Start to 2020
Not a Premium Member of GuruFocus? Sign up for a free 7-day trial here.
This article first appeared on
GuruFocus
.
Warning! GuruFocus has detected 4 Warning Signs with DLTR. Click here to check it out.
DLTR 30-Year Financial Data
The intrinsic value of DLTR
Peter Lynch Chart of DLTR
View comments
- ·Key Execs Transition from Old to New Penney’s
- ·Realogy Holdings Corp.'s (NYSE:RLGY) Intrinsic Value Is Potentially 88% Above Its Share Price
- ·US STOCKS SNAPSHOT-Wall Street edges up; economic concerns cap gains
- ·These Are the Top Skills Businesses and Job Recruiters Are Looking for Most in 2019
- ·Nexon founder to sell controlling stake in gaming co's holding firm - report
- ·Insider Buying: The Domino's Pizza Group plc (LON:DOM) CEO & Director Just Bought UK£201k Worth Of Shares
- ·UK to close all London primary schools as coronavirus cases surge
- ·Are Investors Undervaluing Groupon, Inc. (NASDAQ:GRPN) By 42%?
- ·Deutsche Telekom sues German government over 5G auction - Welt
- ·Petrolympic Announces Closing of Private Placement
- ·Cryptocurrencies Annual Market Recap – 2018