Pakistan Refinery losses decrease massively

Net losses of PRL decrease more than 25 times to Rs24m in the first quarter as compared to Rs672m last year.

KARACHI: Net losses of Pakistan Refinery Limited (PRL) decreased more than 25 times to Rs24 million in the first quarter (July-September) of financial year 2010-11 compared with Rs672 million in the same period last year.

The loss posted is much lower than market expectations, said BMA Capital analyst Muhammad Ali Taufiq.

The refinery achieved a turnaround and posted gross profit of Rs338 million from a loss of Rs75 million last year.

Cost of sales fell five per cent to Rs20.7 billion in the period under review from last year’s Rs21.7 billion, according to a notice sent to the stock exchange on Wednesday.

Improvement was seen on a quarterly basis, added Taufiq. Loss per share also fell to Rs0.69 compared with Rs19.2 last year.

Sales dropped as production remained flat due to the circular debt. Net sales were Rs21.1 billion compared with Rs27 billion recorded last year.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 21^st, 2010.