Corporate results: PSO’s profit soars 42% with uptick in sales

Earnings increased to Rs4.59 billion from Rs3.24 billion

KARACHI:

Pakistan State Oil’s (PSO) profit soared 42% in the nine-month ended March 31, 2016 with uptick in volumetric sales amid increased motor vehicle population and significant cut in financial cost, the company said on Friday.

The net profit of the state-owned energy firm surged to Rs4.59 billion in the period under review from Rs3.24 billion in the same period last year. This translated into earning per share at Rs16.91 as compared to Rs11.93 in the corresponding period, the company said in a notification to Pakistan Stock Exchange.

“The increase (in profit) was mainly due to growth in sales volume and margins of white oil products revised in November 1, 2014 and reduction in operating and finance cost by 10% and 42%, respectively,” a handout from the company said.

“However, the said increase was partially offset by decrease in black oil margins due to reduced price impact of black oil,” it added.

“A growth of 2.4% was witnessed in total liquid fuels sales volume over the same period last year. This was primarily driven by growth in sales volume of white oil and black oil by 3.9% and 0.9% respectively,” it said.

Major increase was witnessed in motor gasoline sales, which increased by 13.5% over the same period last year amid lower local petroleum prices and “increased motor vehicle population”.

PSO black oil sales volume increased by 0.9% despite 5.3% decrease in industry volumes, owing to increased availability of natural gas and R-LNG to power producers, it said.

However, value of gross sales in rupee term declined 21% to Rs650.74 billion against Rs823.69 billion in the same period last year. Analysts attributed the drop in the value to sharp fall in petroleum products in the under review period as compared to the same period last year.

The handout of the company added “during the period under review, PSO continued to hold its market leadership position in the industry despite stiff market conditions with an overall market share of 55 percent whereas market share of black oil products stood at 69% and market share of white oil products was 46%.”

The period under review also marked major achievement for the company, when pursuant to long-term LNG Sale Purchase Agreement (SPA) signed in February 2016 with Qatar Liquefied Gas Company Limited 2 (QG2), PSO received the first Q-Flex ship carrying approximately 3.4 million mmbtu of LNG from Qatar on March 1, 2016. “LNG has proven to be a major game changer in the energy mix of Pakistan,” it said.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 30^th, 2016.

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