Corporate results: Pakistan Oilfields leads Attock Group companies with Rs10.8 billion profit

All companies of the group announce profits and dividends.

KARACHI:

It was another good year for the Attock Group as all of its listed firms announced profits for fiscal year 2012-13 and shareholders were duly rewarded with cash dividends.

Pakistan Oilfields

Attock’s stalwart, the petroleum explorer Pakistan Oilfields Limited posted a profit of Rs10.828 billion along with final cash dividend of Rs25 per share.

But the profit was down 8.75% over the previous year as the company recorded an increase in operational expenses and higher cost of finding new petroleum reserves.



POL also bore the expense of writing off some of the dormant fields, analysts said. It reported 11% rise in amortisation and decommission cost to Rs2 billion.

The company’s sales stood stagnant at Rs30.9 billion.

Attock Refinery

Attock Refinery Limited (ARL) was able to increase profit by 44% on the back of better refining margins and a relatively stable international oil price. Its full-year net profit was Rs3.9 billion.

The company declared a final cash dividend of Rs2.5, taking the full-year dividend to Rs5. Sales jumped to Rs163 billion from Rs154 billion.



Most of the growth in profit came from refining operation income that jumped 130% to Rs2.6 billion. On the other hand, non-refinery income dropped 18% to Rs1.298 billion.

National Refinery

ARL’s sister concern National Refinery Limited (NRL) saw a 7.7% increase in profit to Rs2.8 billion on sales of Rs216 billion. The company announced a final cash dividend of Rs15.

Analysts say NRL could have done much better had it not suffered exchange loss and fall in demand for asphalt, an important earner for the company.

Attock Petroleum

Slowly but gradually, Attock Petroleum Limited has expanded operations, increasing the number of retail outlets to 408. This was reflected in the 8% rise in net sales to Rs164 billion.

The company announced a final cash dividend of Rs45 along with 20% bonus shares. Net profit showed a 5.1% decline to Rs3.9 billion. But analysts say the company has been gaining high speed diesel’s market share.

Attock Cement

The results of Attock Cement Limited beat market expectation as the company announced a 48.6% rise in full-year profit to Rs2.13 billion. A decline in company’s effective tax rate helped improve the result.

It declared a final cash dividend of Rs10 in addition to interim dividend of Rs3 and 15% bonus shares.

Net sales increased 9% to Rs11.5 billion compared with the previous year on the back of higher cement prices in the local market, analysts said.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 16^th, 2013.

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