Maple Leaf Cement profit grows 12.8 percent in nine months

KARACHI: Maple Leaf Cement (MLCF) has announced a net profit of Rs3.952 billion for the nine months period ended March 31, 2017, showing a growth of 12.8 percent against the profit of Rs3.50 billion during the same period of the last year, a bourse filing said on Tuesday.

The earnings per share (EPS) for the period under review clocked in at Rs7.49 as against Rs6.64 last year. The company did not announce any payouts along with the corporate results. Sales revenue during the nine months surged to Rs18.22 billion as compared to Rs16.9 billion last year.

“Cement sales were up on the back of 10 percent higher local dispatches, thanks to rising demand from infrastructure spending,” Nabeel Khursheed said in a report issued by Topline Securities.

For the quarter ended March 31, 2017, MLCF posted a net profit of Rs1.327 billion, translating into the EPS of Rs2.52 as compared to the profit of Rs1.16 billion and the EPS of Rs2.2 during the corresponding period of the last year.  Khursheed flagged price competition, unanticipated increase in gas and coal prices, political noise, and delay in the installation of 40MW coal-fired power plant as key risks for MLCF.