Sitara Chemicals profits grow 50% as industry rues smuggling
Announces dividend of Rs10 per share, while retaining EPS of Rs48.35 per share.
Gross profit improved 19% to Rs2.5 billion and increase in distribution cost and administrative expenses did little to hurt the bottom-line, according to notice sent to the KSE. PHOTO: FILE
KARACHI:
Sitara Chemicals, the country’s largest producer of caustic soda, announced on Monday a 50% increase in profits for the fiscal year 2012-13 to Rs1.04 billion, compared to the previous year, helped by a 28.7% decline in finance cost and its ability to easily sell the product.
Gross profit improved 19% to Rs2.5 billion and increase in distribution cost and administrative expenses did little to hurt the bottom-line, according to notice sent to the Karachi Stock Exchange.
It announced Rs10 per share cash dividend for the year, while retaining the rest of the EPS of Rs48.35.
The results coincided with a half page newspaper advertisement which begged the government to check smuggling of caustic soda from Iran that has threatened ‘billions’ of rupees of investment.
The advertisement was sponsored by Caustic Soda Manufacturers Association, which has Ittehad Chemicals and Nimir Industrial Chemicals as members beside Sitara Chemicals.
What is interesting about the plea of caustic soda makers is that one of their own members says that smuggling is not a “big issue as yet.”
When contacted by The Express Tribune, Mian Muhammad Adrees, CEO of Sitara Chemicals, said that 2,000 to 2,500 tons is smuggled from Iran every year against industry’s domestic capacity to produce over 400,000 tons.
“Actually, we just want to tell the government that this can become a big menace going forward,” he said. “We should be careful, especially the officials responsible for checking illegal imports.”
Sitara Chemicals is already operating below capacity. In fiscal 2011-12, the company produced 112,231 tons of caustic soda against a capacity of 201,300 tons. The capacity utilisation for 2012-13 could not be immediately known.
Engro Polymer and Chemicals has emerged as a main competitor in the southern region of the country to other established caustic soda producers.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 20th, 2013.
Sitara Chemicals, the country’s largest producer of caustic soda, announced on Monday a 50% increase in profits for the fiscal year 2012-13 to Rs1.04 billion, compared to the previous year, helped by a 28.7% decline in finance cost and its ability to easily sell the product.
Gross profit improved 19% to Rs2.5 billion and increase in distribution cost and administrative expenses did little to hurt the bottom-line, according to notice sent to the Karachi Stock Exchange.
It announced Rs10 per share cash dividend for the year, while retaining the rest of the EPS of Rs48.35.
The results coincided with a half page newspaper advertisement which begged the government to check smuggling of caustic soda from Iran that has threatened ‘billions’ of rupees of investment.
The advertisement was sponsored by Caustic Soda Manufacturers Association, which has Ittehad Chemicals and Nimir Industrial Chemicals as members beside Sitara Chemicals.
What is interesting about the plea of caustic soda makers is that one of their own members says that smuggling is not a “big issue as yet.”
When contacted by The Express Tribune, Mian Muhammad Adrees, CEO of Sitara Chemicals, said that 2,000 to 2,500 tons is smuggled from Iran every year against industry’s domestic capacity to produce over 400,000 tons.
“Actually, we just want to tell the government that this can become a big menace going forward,” he said. “We should be careful, especially the officials responsible for checking illegal imports.”
Sitara Chemicals is already operating below capacity. In fiscal 2011-12, the company produced 112,231 tons of caustic soda against a capacity of 201,300 tons. The capacity utilisation for 2012-13 could not be immediately known.
Engro Polymer and Chemicals has emerged as a main competitor in the southern region of the country to other established caustic soda producers.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 20th, 2013.