APL’s Q2 profit down 36 percent

KARACHI: Attock Petroleum Limited (APL) on Wednesday said its profit for the quarter ended December 31, 2019 fell 36 percent to Rs355 million, mainly owing to high cost of finance, inventory losses, easing gross margins, etc.

The company in a communication to Pakistan Stock Exchange said this profit translated into EPS (earnings per share) of Rs3.57, while it had reported a profit of Rs555 million (EPS at Rs5.58) in the corresponding quarter ended earlier.

The APL also announced interim cash dividend for six-month period ended December 31, 2019 at Rs5/share, which was equivalent to 50 percent -in addition to an interim cash dividend already paid.

During 2QFY20, the topline of the company settled at Rs57 billion, down 1 percent year-on-year on account of volumetric decline (-5.2 percent year-on-year; volumes of Mogas and HSD (High Speed Diesel) dropped by -1.3 percent and -15.2 percent), the statement said.

It added that its gross margins fell 88bps (basis points) year-on-year to 1.62 percent in 2QFY20 compared to 2.50 percent in 2QFY19.

The APL further said its finance cost jumped up 100 percent to Rs432 million, given a rise in the markup charged on delayed payments and implementation of new accounting standard (IFRS-16) pushed up the finance cost by Rs125 million.