Announcing its first results after takeover by the GSPC Group, Gujarat Gas Company Ltd has said its consolidated industrial sales in the second quarter of 2013, ended June 30, declined by 2 per cent compared to the first quarter (January-March 2013), while its consolidated net profit increased by 69 per cent due to price rise.

The company’s PAT in the second quarter stood at Rs 100.6 crore (Rs 59.5 crore in the first quarter) while sales were Rs 746.8 crore (Rs 762.9 crore).

It sold 239 mscm (million standard cubic metres) of gas (264 mscm) in the period, Sugata Sircar, Managing Director, said in a release.

While additional volumes have been commissioned in all the segments, volumes in industrial segment have been undergoing a churning with increasing price of gas, he said.

He said 17,500 new residential customers were added in the April-June period. The company commissioned over 43,000 scmd (standard cubic metres of gas per day) of new volumes during the quarter.

The RLNG cost came off the peak it had reached the preceding quarter, thereby enabling some recovery of margins impacted during the preceding quarter.

GGCL, a subsidiary of GSPC Group’s GDNL, currently distributes about 2.8 mscmd of natural gas to about 4.04 lakh industrial, commercial and domestic customers in the State through its pipeline network and over two lakh vehicles through its network of 56 retail outlets.