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HBL profit declines 10 percent to Rs8.824 billion in January-September

By Our Correspondent
October 16, 2019

KARACHI: Habib Bank Limited profit fell 10 percent to Rs8.824 billion for the nine months period ended September 30, 2019, translating into earnings per share (EPS) of Rs5.89, a bourse filing said on Tuesday.

The bank earned Rs9.910 billion with EPS of Rs6.57 in the nine month period last year.

HBL announced interim cash dividend for the third quarter ended September 30, 2019 at Rs1.25/share which is equivalent to 12.5 percent. This is in addition to interim cash dividend already at Rs2.50/share which is equivalent to 25 percent, the notice to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) said.

Net mark-up interest income (NII) of the bank settled at Rs74 billion for the January-September period, rising 23 percent YoY as 91 percent higher interest expense was offset by the 56 percent rise in mark-up income. NII registered an uptick of 8 percent QoQ as well despite rate hike of 100bps in July.

Net foreign investment (NFI) of the bank depicted a sharp jump of 493 percent QoQ owing to a massive gain on income from forex operations and derivatives. Share of profit of associates/JV also depicted a twofold QoQ jump. That said, fee income of the bank portrayed a disappointing downturn of 11 percent QoQ (up 21 percent YoY during 9M).

Provisioning expenses settled at Rs1.3 billion during Q3 (Rs1.8 billion for the nine-month period) rising 114 percent QoQ.

Higher operating expenses (+22 percent YoY / 4 percent QoQ) owing to New York remediation/business transformation costs continued for the bank.

Arif Habib Limited in their analysis said, “Effective tax rate was set at 51.7 percent for 9MCY19 vis-à-vis 44 percent same period last year.”

Analyst Karim Punjani from Topline Securities pointed out some key risks for HBL which included lower than expected advances growth, higher exchange and derivatives losses, and further penalties on international operations.

POL profit up 5.2pc in Q1

Pakistan Oilfields Limited (POL) profit increased 5.2 percent to Rs4.007 billion for the quarter ended September 30, 2019, translating into EPS of Rs14.12, a bourse filing said.

POL earned Rs3.867 million with EPS of Rs13.62 in the corresponding period earlier, the PSX notice said. The company did not announce any interim cash dividend for Q3.

Top-line witnessed a decline of three percent YoY, settling at Rs10,251 million compared to Rs10,570 million in the same period last year, amid drop in oil and gas production by 5 percent and 3 percent YoY, respectively, and fall in average realised oil prices by 18 percent YoY. Rupee depreciated against dollar by 21 percent YoY during the quarter.

The exploration cost remained on the lower side during Q1FY20, arriving at Rs376 million against Rs731 million in Q1FY19, down by 49 percent. This massive decline comes amid absence of dry well during the quarter against dry well (Mamikhel Deep-1) found in the same period last year.

Other income clocked-in at Rs467 million in Q1FY20 against Rs841 million in the same period last year, down by 44 percent YoY, on account of exchange loss on foreign currency account.

Engro Polymer quarterly profit falls 27 percent

Engro Polymer and Chemicals Limited profit fell 27 percent to Rs2.814 billion for the nine months period ended September 30, 2019, translating into EPS of Rs3.10, a bourse filing said.

The company earned Rs3.865 billion with EPS of Rs5.03 in the corresponding period earlier. It announced an interim cash dividend for the third quarter ended September 30, 2019 at Rs0.6/share which was equivalent to 6 percent, the PSX notice said. Gross margins of the company went up by 37bps YoY to 24.3 percent (Q2CY19: 21.9 percent up by 238bps QoQ). However, the international PVC margins went up by 53 percent YoY. Arif Habib Limited in their analysis said, “During the latest quarter ended, finance costs inched up by 203 percent YoY due to higher interest rates.”

Attock Cement profit falls to Rs421 million in July-Sept

Attock Cement quarterly profit fell to Rs421 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2019, translating into EPS of Rs3.06, a bourse filing said.

The company earned Rs423 million with EPS of Rs3.08 in the corresponding period earlier. The board of directors did not announce any interim cash dividend for Q3, according to the PSX notice.

The company’s top-line in Q1FY20 clocked-in at Rs5 billion down by 15 percent YoY as recovery in retention prices offset the impact of 25 percent YoY weakness in total dispatches to 712,000 tons. On a QoQ basis, revenue underwent a growth of 11 percent amid volumetric growth of 3 percent together with improvement in prices.