PSO’s Q2 profit jumps more than three-fold

KARACHI: Pakistan State Oil (PSO) has announced a net profit of Rs4.03 billion for the quarter ended December 31, 2020, up 363 percent from the profit of Rs869.66 million recorded in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

The EPS for the quarter under review clocked in at Rs8.86 as against Rs3.91 in the same quarter previous year. PSO also declared a cash dividend of Rs5.0/share.

“The jump in earnings is due to growth in volumes and company recording inventory gains of Rs0.6 billion in Q2FY21 compared to inventory loss of Rs2 billion in Q2FY20, we view,” a report issued by Arif Habib Limited noted.

The sales revenues during Q2FY21 stood at Rs295.87 billion, down 7.06 percent from Rs318.314 billion in Q2FY20.

“Despite increase in overall sales volumes by 13 percent to 2.26 million tons in Q2FY21, topline witnessed a decline due to decreased average selling prices of petroleum products, which offset the impact of growth in overall volumes,” the analyst said.

The finance costs declined a massive 79 percent to Rs917.89 million during the quarter under review due to lower interest rates.

The company posted a gross profit of Rs9 billion with gross margins set at 3.14 percent in Q2FY21 compared to 2.23 percent in the prior year.

Other operating income decreased 43 percent to Rs3.175 billion on the back of lower mark-up on delayed payments in the period under review.

For the first half ended December 31, 2020, PSO posted a net profit of Rs9.257 billion translating into EPS of Rs19.93 as against profit of Rs4.34 billion and EPS of Rs11.36 in the corresponding period the previous year.

Engro Corp full-year profit surges 45.2pc to Rs44.39bln

Engro Corporation Limited announced a net profit of Rs44.39 billion for the year ended December 31, 2020, which is 45.2 percent higher than the profit of Rs30.58 billion recorded in the year ended December 31, 2019, a bourse filing said on Thursday.

The earnings per share (EPS) for the year clocked in at Rs43.57 as against EPS of Rs28.69 in the previous year. The company also declared a final cash dividend of Rs2.0/share, which is in addition to the interim dividend of Rs24/share already paid to the shareholders.

Engro’s consolidated revenue grew by 10 percent, from Rs225.76 billion during 2019 to Rs248.81 billion primarily attributable to higher revenue from full-year operations of Thar energy projects.

According to the company, despite the unprecedented challenges faced in 2020, the fertiliser business has achieved a historic milestone of highest ever urea production of 2,264 KT as compared to 2,003 KT produced in 2019. This increase of 13 percent is primarily due to better plant utilisation supported by minimal outage days and higher gas availability.

Revenue for the polymer business decreased 7.0 percent in comparison to 2019, mainly due to plant shutdown during the lockdown period in 1H 2020.

The fall in volumes was offset by cost efficiencies and higher PVC prices which rallied throughout 2H 2020 on account of global supply constraints.

Despite the challenges faced in 2020, Engro continued to build on its experience in the petrochemicals vertical and made considerable progress on the feasibility study of a polypropylene facility based on a propane dehydrogenation plant.

Energy and related mining and power plant operations at Thar continued smoothly, with approximately 3.8 million tons of coal supplied by the mine and a dispatch of 4,032 GwH to the national grid by the power plant during the period. Construction for expansion of mine, doubling its existing capacity is underway, with the contractor mobilised at site.

Elengy Terminal handled 72 cargoes during the year, delivering 215.4 bcf re-gasified LNG into the SSGC network, equivalent to more than 12 percent of the country’s gas requirements. Meanwhile, Engro Vopak Terminal broke the record of handling 246 Kt LPG compared to the previous record of 240 Kt in 2017.

On the other hand, EVTL also witnessed a volumetric decline in chemicals, attributable to reduction in chemical volumes on account of lower import of Phos Acid and Paraxylene due to Covid-19.

Meezan Bank profit rises by 37.5pc

Meezan Bank Limited (MEBL) has announced a net profit of Rs22.67 billion for the year ended December 31, 2020, which is 37.5 percent higher than the profit of Rs16.77 billion recorded in the year ended December 31, 2019.

The EPS for 2020 clocked in at Rs15.83 as against EPs of Rs11.02 in 2019. MEBL also declared a final cash dividend of Rs2.0/share, which is in addition to the interim dividend of Rs4.0/share already paid to the shareholders.

An analyst at Taurus Securities said the earnings came below market expectations and attributed the lower earnings to contraction in interest income attributable to re-pricing.

Profit on Islamic financing and investment clocked in at Rs106.59 billion for the year under review, up 12.9 percent from Rs94.27 billion recorded in the previous year.

Other income increased 5.7 percent to Rs11.06 billion in 2020 compared with Rs10.49 billion in 2019 led by Rs752 million gain on securities. MEBL had incurred a loss of Rs428.78 million on securities in 2019.

Total expenses also increased 15.4 percent to Rs30.26 billion compared with Rs26.16 billion in the corresponding year.

Mari Petroleum profit edges up

Mari Petroleum Company Limited (MPCL) has announced a net profit of Rs7.33 billion for the quarter ended December 31, 2020, up 0.68 percent from the profit of Rs7.28 billion recorded in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

The EPS for the quarter under review clocked in at Rs54.98 as against Rs54.61 in the same quarter of the previous year. MPCL also declared a cash dividend of Rs6.0/share.

Net sales revenues during Q2FY21 stood at Rs18.847 billion, up 12.8 percent from Rs16.7 billion in Q2FY20.

“During second quarter of the fiscal year, despite 33 percent fall in oil prices and meagre decline in gas production from Mari field, revenues remained flat, thanks to 3.3 percent average currency devaluation,” an analyst at Insight Securities said.

Exploration expenses decreased 23 percent mainly due to one dry well (Sheen Dund -1) and higher prospecting activity.

The other expenses plunged by a massive 98 percent, clocking-in at Rs3.0 million in Q2FY21 due to noteworthy loss in seismic unit in the prior year.

For the first half ended December 31, 2020, MPCL posted a net profit of Rs16.4 billion translating into EPS of Rs122.94 as against profit of Rs14.74 billion and EPS of Rs110.55 in the corresponding period of the previous year.