Fatima Fertilizer posts profit of Rs1.85b, down 58%

EPS dropped to Rs0.88 from Rs2.10 during the quarter ended June 30, 2016

KARACHI: Fatima Fertilizer Company Limited has posted a net profit of Rs1.85 billion in the quarter ended June 30, down by a significant 58% compared to Rs4.41 billion in the same period of the last fiscal year, according to a company notice sent to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX).

Earnings per share (EPS) dropped to Rs0.88 from an EPS of Rs2.10 during the period under review.

KSE-100 Index closed on 39,499, down 272 points or 0.68% on Friday. The share price of Fatima Fertilizer, which is part of Arif Habib Corporation, closed at Rs33.79, down by 0.14%.

Along with the result, the company announced an interim cash dividend of Rs1.25 per share. To recall, the company had curtailed its pay-out in 2015 year end to manage its cash flows.

However, the management had indicated resumption of pay-outs in the future. Cumulatively, in first half of 2016 (1H2016) profit of the company now stands at Rs2.97 billion (an EPS of Rs1.42) compared to the profit of Rs6.84 billion (an EPS of Rs3.26) in 1H2015.

“The result outperformed our expectations as the company’s effective tax rate stood substantially lower than our expectations mainly due to tax credits utilised by the company,” JS Research commented on Friday.

The company’s revenues declined by 23% year-on-year in second quarter of 2016 (2Q2016) mainly due to weak off-take and prices in-line with our expectations, the report added.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 20^th, 2016.

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