Staff Reporter
Karachi
On a consolidated basis, Lucky Cement Limited reported net profit after tax of PKR 3.21 billion after taking out PKR 0.71 billion attributable to non-controlling interests for the half year ended December 31, 2019, which translates into earnings per share (EPS) of PKR 9.93 / share as compared to PKR 17.92 / share reported during the same period last year.
Further, on a consolidated basis, the Company achieved gross turnover of PKR 79.56 billion which is 17.3% higher as compared to the same period last year’s turnover of PKR 67.85 billion.
On a standalone basis Company’s, overall sales volumes declined by 8.4% to reach 3.68 million tons during the current half year ended December 31, 2019. The local cement sales volume registered a decline of 13.3% and were 2.59 million tons in comparison to 2.99 million tons during the same period last year, however, the export sales volumes of the Company improved by 6.0% to reach 1.08 million tons as compared to 1.02 million tons during the same period last year.
Further, with regards to Company’s standalone financial performance, the gross sales revenue decreased by 10.9% to PKR 31.10 billion compared to PKR 34.89 billion reported during the same period last year. This was mainly due to lower sales volumes and cut-throat pricing on the back of lower demand and retentions due to higher transportation and logistics costs. Furthermore, Lucky Cement recorded net profit after tax of PKR 1.94 billion, which is 64.8% lower as compared to same period last year. Similarly, the standalone EPS of the Company is PKR 5.99 / share as compared to the same period last year’s reported EPS of PKR 17.01 / share.
Lucky Cement also shared the successful completion of construction and installation for its brownfield expansion for cement production of 2.8 million tons per annum at its Pezu Plant which has increased total production capacity (including both North and South plants) of the Company from previous 9.35 million tons to 12.15 million tons per annum.
In addition, the Company also reported progress on the greenfield investment project for producing 1.2 million tons of clinker at Samawah, Iraq and investment projects of 1 X 660 MW supercritical coal based power project at Port Qasim.
Lucky Cement remains committed towards progressive development of society and the communities in which it operates. In this regard, the Company extended numerous scholarships to deserving students for various leading universities in Pakistan and abroad. Keeping in view the importance and impact of women empowerment in Pakistan, the Company in collaboration with Zindagi Trust continued its support for two leading Government girls’ schools in Karachi.
The Company also continued to donate generously towards health-based initiatives by supporting various welfare organizations.
Lucky Cement always takes serious responsibility towards the preservation of the environment and in an effort to highlight the importance of environment conservation; the Company continued with its pro-environment initiatives including tree-plantation drives in and around its manufacturing sites.
The Company reports that despite current economic challenges, there has been an improvement in both Domestic and Export off-takes, however, the outlook of Cement Industry will continue to be challenging & will put adverse pressure on pricing due to availability of excess capacity in the North region, while prices for exports from South are also very competitive due to surplus supplies available in the Region.
The input costs may also rise in the future due to higher electricity and gas tariff, which will increase the production, as well as logistics costs.
