Major Companies Declare Results

Attock Refinery profit drops
KARACHI: Attock Refinery Limited (ATRL) on Thursday reported a 36 percent fall in its full-year net profit as losses on inventories and impairment loss on investments in associated companies weighed on performance.
In a bourse filing the ATRL reported a net profit of Rs1.478 billion for the year ended June 30, 2015 down from Rs2.319 billion the previous year.
Earnings per share came in at Rs17.34/share, compared with Rs27.19/share last year.
The refinery’s earnings were below market expectations. The Company has announced a final cash dividend of Rs5.0/share for the year ended June 30, 2015.
ATRL’s sales declined 26.36 percent YoY to Rs13.086 billion due to low petroleum prices, resulting in a gross profit of Rs553.06 million. Company’s other income stood at Rs1.447 billion and share in profit of associated companies stood at Rs1.073 billion for the year ended June 30, 2015.
Pakistan Oilfields profit falls
Pakistan Oilfields Limited (POL) on Thursday reported a 34 percent fall in its full-year net profit, as increased exploration activities resulted in higher cost and reduced sales.
In a statement to the Karachi Stock Exchange, the company reported a net profit of Rs8.269 billion for the year ended June 30, 2015 down from Rs12.53 billion the previous year. Earnings per share came in at Rs34.75/share, compared with Rs52.87/share last year.
Country’s leading exploration company’s earnings came below market expectations.
The Company has also announced a final cash dividend of Rs25/share for the year ended June 30, 2015, which is in addition to interim dividend of Rs15 already paid to shareholders.
“The under-performance is attributable to higher exploration cost booked in fourth quarter of the fiscal, which is primarily due to company expectedly writing-off cost of an exploration well,” said Shahbaz Ashraf at Arif Habib Limited.
POL’s exploration costs on FY14-15 surged 176 percent to Rs4.728 billion compared with Rs1.709 billion in the previous fiscal. The surge in exploration cost during the year was due to write-off of two dry wells and increase in field expenses as exploratory activities heaved up in 4QFY15.
Analysts, however, said decline in amortization of development and decommissioning costs in FY15 by 61 percent YoY to Rs3 billion due to absence of write-off provided some relief to the bottom-line.
Company’ sales declined 11.85 percent YoY to Rs34.427 billion on account of lower oil prices coupled with a drop in gas production, resulting in a gross/operating profit of Rs16.439 billion.
During FY15, POL’s oil production grew by 6 percent YoY while Arab Light crude during the year averaged $73/bbl versus $108/bbl in FY14. Gas production, on the other hand, declined by 8 percent YoY.

Attock Cement full-year profit up
Attock Cement Limited (ACL) on Thursday reported a 9.48 percent surged in its full-year net profit due to higher sales and better margins.
The net profit for the year ended June 30, 2015 remained at Rs2.205 billion. The company in a statement to Karachi stock exchange reported earnings per share (EPS) of Rs19.26. ACL had posted profit of Rs2.014 billion and EPS of Rs17.59 in the fiscal year 2014.
The Company has also announced a final cash dividend of Rs10.5/share, which was in addition to interim dividend of Rs4.5 already paid to shareholders.
The cement manufacturer’s earnings are in line with consensus market expectations.
The net profit figure was broadly inline with the market expectations.
“Growth in earnings was primarily attributed to the growth in revenues driven by higher retention prices, higher primary margins on account of lower fuel and power costs and robust other income,” said analyst Bilal Khan at Global Securities.
ACL’s sales declined 4.29 percent YoY to Rs13.086 billion, resulting in a gross profit of Rs4.396 billion.
With imposition of anti-dumping duty in South Africa, the situation may further aggravate. The company has increased its base in export markets and is exploring more frontiers to counter the situation.