NCPL full-year profit up 35pc

KARACHI: Nishat Chunian Power Limited (NCPL) on Thursday said its profit for the year ended June 30, 2020 increased 35 percent to Rs4.605 billion (EPS: Rs12.54), a bourse filing said on Thursday.

The company earned Rs3.416 billion (EPS: Rs9.30) in the corresponding period earlier, the power producer said in a statement.

Analysts at brokerage Arif Habib Limited in a report said, “During 4QFY20, NCPL’s net sales declined 34 percent YoY to Rs2.434 billion, mainly due to 72 percent YoY slump in dispatches to 41 GWh (Load Factor: 10 percent)”.

The same trend prevailed during FY20, where sales were down 13 percent YoY, the brokerage said adding that the load factor of fuel oil based plants remained very low amid lower demand of electricity and availability of relatively cheaper sources of power generation (coal and hydel).

“During 4QFY20, gross margins of the company increased by 33pps YoY to 67 percent due to 15.6 percent YoY rupee depreciation coupled with lower load factor, we view,” the Arif Habib analysts said.

They said finance costs of NCPL went up 8 percent YoY to Rs409 million, due to higher short term borrowings (up 70 percent YoY to Rs12.3 billion as of March 2020).

“The company did not announce any cash dividend with the result as its overdue receivables increased by 27 percent YoY to Rs16.3 billion (as of March 2020),” the report said.