PSO’s half-year profit up 51.43pc

KARACHI: Pakistan State Oil (PSO) on Tuesday said its FY 20 half-year net profit surged 51.43

percent to Rs6.4 billion due to strong inventory gains.

The largest oil marketing firm in the country by market share earned a

net profit of Rs4.24 billion in the same period last year.

Earnings per share came in at Rs13.71, compared to Rs9.05 in the six months ended December 31, 2018. The company didn’t announce any final cash dividend for the period.

“Despite unfavourable market conditions in the industry and many challenges, the PSO remained focused on re-gaining its market share and volumetric growth, and outperformed by an enormous margin,” PSO said in a statement

PSO’s sales revenue went up 15.09 percent year-on-year due to higher growth in sales volumes of motor spirit, high-speed diesel and furnace oil, whereas.

Cost of sales also increased 15.34 percent year-on-year, thereby restricting gross profit which increased by only 6.50 percent year-on-year. Moreover, the company’s marketing and distribution expenses and administrative cost witnessed a decrease of 34.34 percent year-on-year and 32.37 percent year-on-year respectively.

The statement said the company’s other income rose 2.69 times year-on-year to Rs7.12 billion during 1HFY20. Furthermore, during the period under review, the finance cost surged substantially by 92.14 percent year-on-year to Rs7.40 billion, largely owing to higher interest rate.

“PSO managed to mitigate many of the negative economic impacts and strived to minimize the damage caused because of industry challenges,” the statement said. “These results were achieved through various customer centric plans and by enhancing consumer experience and forecourt improvements.”

PSO said its outstanding receivables (inclusive of LPS) from IPPs, GENCOs, PIA and SNGPL were stood Rs. 306 billion as of December 31, 2019.