Lalpir Power earnings drop 6% in June quarter

Board announces interim cash dividend of Rs1 per share

KARACHI: Lalpir Power Limited, a project of the Nishat group of companies, reported a profit of Rs307.25 million in the quarter ended June 30, 2017 on the back of increased sales, according to a bourse filing on Tuesday.

The profit, however, was 6% lower than Rs326.51 million earned in the same quarter of last year.

Accordingly, the earnings per share (EPS) fell to Rs0.81 in the quarter under review from Rs0.86 in the corresponding period of previous year.

The board of directors of the company recommended an interim cash dividend of Rs1 per share.



Lalpir Power’s share price went up Rs0.06 to Rs20.99 with a volume of 268,500 shares at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Tuesday.



JS Research said in a note to its clients “the results came in higher than our expectations of Rs0.42 per share for the quarter.”

“We believe the year-on-year drop in profitability is most likely backed by a higher quantum of fuel losses amid increasing furnace oil prices (+39% YoY). However, power dispatches remained largely stable (load factor 67% vs 69% in 2Q2016),” the brokerage house added.

The company sold power worth Rs6.11 billion, which was 32% higher than Rs4.61 billion in the corresponding quarter. However, the proportionate increase in the cost of sales to Rs5.60 billion from Rs4.08 billion ate up most of the gains seen in power sales.

Finance cost increased to Rs203.05 million from Rs174.24 million. On the flip side, other income rose to Rs27.37 million from Rs5.71 million.

Cumulatively, first-half (Jan-Jun 2017) net earnings came in at Rs627 million (EPS Rs1.65), up 10% on a year-on-year basis.

“This is attributable to cumulatively lower power dispatches during the period (load factor 54% vs 62% in 1H2016), resulting in lower fuel losses for the IPP,” the brokerage house said.

Pakgen Power

Pakgen Power Limited, which is another project of the Nishat group of companies, posted a profit of Rs290.05 million in the quarter ended June 30, 2017.

The profit was 16% lower than Rs346.87 million earned in the same quarter of last year.



EPS came in at Rs0.78 compared to Rs0.94 in the corresponding quarter of previous year. The board of directors recommended an interim cash dividend of Rs1 per share.

Pakgen’s share price dropped Rs0.43 to Rs21.34 with a volume of 413,500 shares at the PSX.

The company sold power worth Rs5.65 billion, which was 28% higher than Rs4.42 billion in the same quarter of last year.

Similarly, the cost of sales rose 18% to Rs5.13 billion from Rs3.86 billion. Finance cost rose to Rs176.74 million from Rs167.61 million.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 16^th, 2017.

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