Mari Petroleum Q3 earningsup 51 percent on better sales

KARACHI: Mari Petroleum Company Limited on Friday reported a 51 percent increase in its quarterly earnings, due to an increase in gross sales.

In a statement to the Pakistan Stock Exchange, the company reported a net profit of Rs16.429 billion for the quarter ended March 31, up from Rs10.889 billion during the same quarter last year.

The company skipped any payout for this period. Earnings per share (EPS) came in at Rs123.16 compared with Rs81.63 a year ago.

The company said its gross sales for the quarter rose to Rs42.467 billion, compared with Rs28.447 billion a year earlier.

For the nine-month period ended March 31, the company reported a net profit of Rs40.291 billion against Rs27.459 billion.

EPS for the nine months was recorded at Rs302.03 compared with Rs205.84 in the same period last fiscal.

Analyst Muhammad Iqbakl Jawaid of Arif Habib Limited in his alert said net sales in 9MFY23 of expanded by 46 percent year-on-year mainly because of 61 percent YoY surge in well-head price of Mari Gas Field and 27 percent YoY rupee depreciation against greenback.

UBL Q1 profit rises 54pc

United Bank Limited (UBL) announced a 54 percent increase in its first-quarter net profit due to increased interest earned income.

The bank reported a net profit of Rs14.470 billion for the quarter ended March 31, up from Rs9.394 billion during the same period last year. The bank also announced an interim cash dividend of Rs11/share.

EPS came in at Rs11.62 compared with Rs7.58 last year.

Interest earned income for the quarter rose to Rs92.568 billion, compared with Rs49.331 billion during the same quarter a year earlier. Interest expensed income was also higher at Rs57.620 billion from Rs26.968 billion a year ago.

Analyst Shameer Alam Zaidi of Ismail Iqbal Securities in his review said, “The earnings are above our estimate of Rs9.8/share, where the deviation mainly came from higher-than-expected net interest income.”

Net interest income of the bank went up by 10 percent quarter-on-quarter, mainly due to lagged impact of asset repricing. Non-markup income declined by 28 percent mainly due to absence of gain on sale of subsidiary realised in last quarter. “Despite this decline, the foreign exchange income of the bank increased by 434 percent to Rs4.4 billion compared to Rs832 million in the previous quarter,” he added.

BankIslami profit surges 244pc

BankIslami Pakistan reported a 244 percent increase in its Q1 net profit due to an increase in profit earned income. It announced a net profit of Rs1.794 billion for the quarter ended March 31, up from Rs522.116 million during the same period last year. The bank skipped any pay out for this period.

EPS came in at Rs1.61 compared with Re0.47 last year.

The bank said its profit earned for the quarter rose to Rs16.563 billion, compared with Rs7.754 billion during the same quarter a year earlier. Profit/return on deposits also remained higher at Rs9.654 billion from Rs4.409 billion a year ago.

Atlas Honda annual earnings down 10pc

Atlas Honda reported a 10 percent decrease in its annual earnings on the back of higher cost of sales. In a bourse filing, the company reported a net profit of Rs5.004 billion for the year ended March 31, 2023 down from Rs5.585 billion last year.

The company also announced a final cash dividend at Rs13/share, which is in addition to the interim dividend already paid at Rs11/share. EPS came in at Rs40.33 against Rs45.01 announced a year ago.

The company said its sales for the year rose to Rs135.485 billion, compared with Rs131.930 billion a year earlier. The cost of sales also increased to Rs125.813 billion from Rs122.045 billion, which decreased the profit margins.

Analyst Muhammad Saad Imran of Ismail Iqbal Securities said the result was above estimates of Rs8.1/share, which was attributable to higher-than-expected gross margin.