FFBL posts loss, disappoints market

KARACHI: Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim (FFBL) has announced a net loss of Rs473.642 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2017, as compared to the loss of Rs837.271 million during the corresponding quarter of the last year, a statement said on Wednesday.

The loss per share (LPS) stood at 10 paisas in the quarter under review as compared to LPS of 69 paisas during the same period of the last year. However, the company announced a cash dividend of 10 paisas/share of the profits of 2016.

“The results disappointed our expectations of profit for the quarter; wherein, we had anticipated improvement in margins due to depressed phosphoric acid prices,” Faizan Ahmed at JS Global said.  The sales revenue during the outgoing quarter stood at Rs9.552 billion, up 17 percent as compared to the sales of Rs8.185 billion during the quarter ended June 30, 2016.

Tahir Abbas at Arif Habib Limited attributed higher sales to 34 percent and 33 percent incremental urea and DAP off-take, respectively. For the half-year ended June 30, 2017, FFBL posted a net loss of Rs1.205 billion, translating in the LPS of 53 paisas as against Rs991.54 million and LPS of 73 paisas during the same period of the last year.  In response to earlier announcement of rights share by Fauji Foods Limited (FFL), the company has disclosed its intentions to subscribe 100 percent of the rights shared offered. The total investment is expected to be Rs2.04 billion.