PTCL’s profit surges 168 percent in 2017

KARACHI: Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL), the country’s leading telecom services provider, posted nearly twofold rise in profit to Rs4.342 billion for the year ended December 31, 2017, a bourse filing said on Wednesday.

The profit translated into earnings per share (EPS) of Re0.85 in 2017 as compared to EPS of Re0.32 in the preceding year. PTCL’s group profit was recorded at Rs1.622 billion in 2016, said a notice to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX).

The telecom operator said the group’s profit grew 168 percent in 2017 as a result of increase in other operating income of the group mainly due to favourable outcome of certain legal cases and improved bottomline of Ufone, which included a one-off impact of voluntary separation scheme offered to staff.

“PTCL’s 100 percent subsidiary UBank has continued to contribute positively to the group results,” the company said in a statement.

In 2017, the group revenue, however, remained stable at Rs117 billion after having declined one percent the year before. PTCL’s flagship and market leading fixed broadband service continued its progression and posted a revenue growth of four percent.

“Investments made in Charji/LTE during 2016/17 have started yielding positive results with revenue growth of 26 percent,” PTCL said. “Corporate and international revenues posted growth of 11 percent and 8 percent respectively on year-on-year basis.”

PTCL overall revenue was down two percent due to continued decrease in voice and EVO revenues, which could not be offset by growth in other segments.

In the fourth quarter, the PTCL’s revenue declined one percent over the same period last year.

PTCL’s revenue for the year amounted to Rs69.8 billion and the net profit was Rs8.4 billion, which is 22 percent higher compared with last year.

“In 2017, PTCL embarked upon an ambitious project of its network’s transformation that will continue with same fervor in 2018, which has resulted in several fully transformed exchanges, giving speeds up to 100 Mbps to PTCL customers,” the company said. “The customer care infrastructure was also upgraded to provide integrated digital channels, customer support, and one-window support helpline – 1218 (Baara Atharaa).”

Key services included launch of Charji wireless services in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and central Punjab, partnership with Iflix to provide quality content to customers and launch of cloud service that is showing good adoption and growth in the corporate sector.

“Commissioned this year, AAE-1 (Asia Africa Europe-1) submarine cable is successfully catering to the growing internet bandwidth needs of the country,” PTCL said.

|Bank AL Habib profit grows 6.53 percent

Bank AL Habib Limited’s (BAHL) profit grew 6.53 percent to Rs8.65 billion for the year ended December 31, 2013, translating into earnings per share (EPS) of Rs7.78, a bourse filing said.

The bank’s profit was Rs8.12 billion in the year ended December 31, 2016 with an EPS of Rs7.31, notice to the PSX said.

BAHL board of directors, in a statement announced that the bank continued its growth momentum even in the backdrop of low interest rate and declared the pre-tax profit of Rs14.04 billion for the year ended December 31, 2017, as compared to Rs13.16 billion for the corresponding year, showing a growth of 6.69 percent.

The total asset base increased by 22.31 percent, compared to last year and reached Rs919.05 billion. The bank’s loan book expanded significantly, standing at Rs339.83 billion as on December 31, 2017, showing growth of 30 percent in net advances, compared to the previous year end. Advances to Deposits Ratio (ADR) of the bank now stand at 49.07 percent, the statement said.

Prudent financing strategies and sound risk management policies of the bank, decreased the ratio of non-performing gross advances to 1.52 percent as on December 31, 2017 compared to 2.12 percent the previous year. Coverage ratio of non-performing loans has also improved to 144.32 percent during the year, from 136.95 percent in 2016.

“The bank continues to mobilise low cost deposits through strong relationship management, customer centric approach and increasing reach to costumers.”

BAHL has opened 45 new branches that have resulted in increasing its deposits by 18.56 percent as compared to the corresponding year. The bank deposits have reached Rs692.58 billion, as on December 31, 2017.

Total branch network is now 650 branches/sub-branches having coverage in 238 cities of Pakistan, with three branches and three representative office outside Pakistan.

Meezan Bank’s full year profit drops 12.5pc

Meezan Bank’s profit dropped 12.5 percent to Rs5.78 billion for the year ended December 31, translating into earnings per share (EPS) of Rs5.46, a bourse filing said on Wednesday.

The bank recorded profit of Rs6.60 billion with EPS of Rs6.05 during the preceding year, a notice to Pakistan Stock Exchange said.

Meezan Bank announced final cash dividend of Rs1.25/share for 2017, which was in addition to interim dividend of Rs1.75/share already paid.

The bank’s profit earned on Islamic financing and related assets, investments and placements amounted to Rs36.09 billion in 2017 as compared to Rs30.76 billion in 2016.

Net spread after provisions stood at Rs19.50 billion during the last calendar year as against Rs18.07 billion in the preceding year.

The bank earned Rs28.31 billion on account of other incomes, including fee, commission, and brokerage income, dividend income, revenue from dealing in foreign currencies, and capital gain on sale of investments. In 2016, other income amounted to Rs24.80 billion.

Meezan Bank’s other expenses soared to Rs17.13 billion in 2017 from Rs15.31 billion in 2016. The expenses included administrative expenditure, reversals of provisions, charges and workers welfare fund.