Company announces final cash dividend of Rs2 per share. PHOTO:EXPRESS
Earnings per share (EPS) of the company came in at Rs12.64 in 2019 compared to Rs13.04 a year ago.
Alongside the result, the fertiliser manufacturer announced a final cash dividend of Rs2 per share, taking dividend for the full year to Rs13 per share.
Net sales of the company rose 11% from Rs109 billion in 2018 to Rs121 billion in 2019. Cost of sales increased from Rs73.9 billion in 2018 to Rs81.8 billion in the year under review, a rise of 10.7%.
The company reported gross profit of Rs39.5 billion in 2019, up 12% compared to Rs35.3 billion in 2018.
Engro Fertilisers reported a profit of Rs6.4 billion in the quarter ended December 31, 2019, which was 23% higher than Rs5.2 billion in the same quarter of 2018.
EPS of the company stood at Rs4.76 in the quarter under review compared to Rs3.87 in the same quarter of previous year.
"During the quarter, net sales of the company swelled 9% on a year-on-year basis due to a 12% increase in volumetric sales as customers stacked fertiliser owing to anticipated hike in urea prices," said Topline Research analyst Sunny Kumar.
"Consolidated gross margins of the company increased by 4.9 percentage points year-on-year to 33.4% in the quarter owing to high retention prices of urea and lower proportion of DAP sales."
He said other income soared 260% year-on-year to Rs699 million in the fourth quarter of 2019 owing to an increase in income from treasury bills (T-bills) and Pakistan Investment Bonds (PIBs).
Effective tax rate was calculated at 35% in the Oct-Dec quarter versus 26% in the same quarter of 2018.
The research house flagged decline in urea prices, poor crop season and unfavourable decision related to the gas infrastructure development cess (GIDC) as key risks to the earnings and valuation forecast.
During the day, Engro Fertilisers' share price decreased Rs0.65 to Rs65.77 with trading in 1.9 million shares at the Pakistan Stock Exchange.
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