Corporate result: Fauji Cement profit dips 51%, amounts to Rs2.6b

Massive drop attributed to closure of production line-II due to an incident

KARACHI: Fauji Cement Company Limited posted a net profit of Rs2.61 billion in fiscal year ended June 2017, down 51% compared to Rs5.37 billion in the previous year, according to a company notice sent to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX).

Earnings per share (EPS) stood at Rs1.89 in FY17 compared to Rs3.98 in the previous year. The massive drop in profit was due to the closure of its production line-II due to an incident.

Alongside the result, the company also announced a final cash dividend of Rs0.90 per share.



Fauji Cement's share price closed at Rs35.21, up 1.23%, at the PSX on Wednesday. The benchmark KSE-100 index closed at 43,347, up 93 points or 0.22%.

In the fourth quarter of FY17, profitability stood at Rs641 million (EPS Rs0.46), down 36% year-on-year from the fourth quarter of FY16 when earnings totalled Rs1,004 million (EPS Rs0.72).

The company recorded a 2% year-on-year uptick in its top line in FY17 to Rs20.42 billion, which was attributable to a 3% incline in total cement dispatches.



In the fourth quarter, the company witnessed a 4% year-on-year fall in net sales in the wake of 6% year-on-year drop in cement demand because of Eid holidays and monsoon rains.



Gross margins fell 24 percentage points to 22% in FY17 due to lacklustre trading margins on locally procured clinker tagged with higher coal prices, which were up on average by 47% year-on-year in FY17.

The company registered a 70% decline in finance costs to Rs153 million in FY17 amid debt retirement.

Insurance income to the tune of Rs306 million was also claimed on the loss of silo (line-II).

Published in The Express Tribune, September 21^st, 2017.

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