PPL’s Q3 profit soars 56pc

KARACHI: Profit of Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) rose around 56 percent year on year during the third quarter ended March 31, 2018, a bourse filing said on Tuesday.

PPL earned Rs11.1 billion in profit for the January-March period of 2017/18 with earnings per share (EPS) of Rs5.61 as compared to Rs7.11 billion with EPS of Rs3.61 in the corresponding period a year earlier, the company said in a statement to Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX). The company didn’t announce any cash dividend. Analyst Ahsan Arshad at Taurus Securities said the quarterly profit mainly increased due to higher sales and decline in operating expenses.

“Net sales during 3QFY18 settled at Rs30.85 billion, up 28.8 percent year on year owing to higher gas pricing for Sui field,” Arshad said in a flash note. “Royalty and other levies soared 59.4 percent year on year to Rs4.52 billion in 3QFY18 due to charge of windfall levy, likely on crude oil sales of some fields, in our view.” PPL’s administrative expenses climbed more than two times to Rs1.01 billion in the third quarter as compared to similar period a year earlier. Arshad said this was due to one-off items. The company’s profit surged 74.1 percent year on year to Rs33.19 billion due to higher oil prices and revision in a major gas field pricing. Analyst Tahir Abbas at Arif Habib Limited said the earnings increased amidst re-pricing of Sui field, along with two percent uptick in gas production. “However, oil production during 9MFY18 declined four percent,” he added.

Nishat Power’s profit amounts to Rs2.42bln in July-March

Nishat Power Limited’s profit rose 12 percent to Rs2.42 billion during the nine months ended March 31, 2018 with EPS of 6.82. The company’s profit amounted to Rs2.1 billion with EPS of 6.05.

Nishat Power’s sales increased to Rs11.952 billion in the July-March period as compared to Rs10.862 billion in the corresponding period a year earlier. The company didn’t announce any cash dividend for the period. Growing sales offset increase in administrative expenses that surged to Rs266.205 million from Rs176.45 million. The company’s profit for the third quarter ended March 31, 2018 amounted to Rs746.792 million with EPS of Rs2.11 as compared to Rs768.065 million with EPS of Rs2.17.

Fauji Fertilizer incurs Rs413.8mln loss in Q1

Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim Limited (FFBQL) incurred loss of Rs413.766 million during the first quarter of January-March with loss per share (LPS) of Re0.26.

FFBQL registered loss of Rs732.24 million with LPS of Re0.43 during the same quarter a year earlier. The company didn’t announce any cash dividend.

Analyst Shankar Talreja at Topline Securities said the loss declined primarily on the back of improved gross profit margins of its core fertiliser business to seven percent in the quarter under review versus negative three percent in corresponding period of last year. Talreja said margins in core operations improved during 1Q2018 mainly due to increase in urea retention prices by 2.3 percent to Rs1,310. “Change in DAP (diammonium phosphate) subsidy disbursement mechanism to lower sales tax of Rs100/bag (from earlier cash subsidy) also provided some respite to the margins.”

The analyst said the company reported net revenue’s growth of 45 percent year on year to Rs14 billion primarily due to increase in its core business by 30 percent year on year to Rs10 billion owing to increase in urea offtakes by 133 percent to 88,000 tons, and increase in Fauji Foods business by 54 percent year on year to Rs2 billion. Other income of the company fell 65 percent to Rs627 million due to change in subsidy mechanism. Cash subsidy of Rs300/bag was replaced with reduced sales tax of Rs100/bag. Finance cost increased 62 percent year on year to Rs1 billion owing to higher debt financing facilities obtained by its subsidiaries Fauji Foods and Fauji Meats.

Ghandhara Nissan’s nine months profit falls

Ghandhara Nissan Limited’s profit fell 17 percent to Rs562.1 million for the nine months ended March 31, 2018, translating into EPS of Rs12.49.

The company’s profit amounted to Rs655.3 million with EPS of Rs14.56, a PSX statement said.

The board recommended to issue 26.67 percent right shares at a premium of Rs90/share in proportion of 26.67 shares for every 100 shares.

Ghandhara Nissan’s revenue sharply fell to Rs3.728 billion in the July-March period of financial year 2018 as compared to Rs5.326 billion in the corresponding period a year earlier.

The company recommended to issue 26.67 percent right shares by offering 12 million right shares to the existing ordinary shareholders of the company at a price of Rs100/share, including a premium of Rs90/share in proportion of 26.67 right shares for every 100 ordinary shares held “in order to partially finance the expenditure for the revival of existing assembly facility for the manufacturing of Datsun passenger cars and capacity expansion for other existing businesses,” the company said in an another statement to PSX.

Correction

With reference to a story published in this section on April 24, Engro Corp. announced financial results for Q1FY2018. The error is regretted.