KARACHI, April 29: Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC) reported a staggering operating loss of Rs8.547 billion, for the nine months (July-March 2002-03). This represented a huge increase of 48 per cent or Rs2.755 billion, from operating loss of Rs5.792 billion that the utility suffered in the corresponding period of the previous year.
The board of directors which unveiled the results on Tuesday, showed 16.6 per cent decrease in after tax loss for the period under review to Rs9.981 billion, from Rs11.963 billion for the similar nine months of the earlier year. But almost all of the improvement in the bottomline stemmed from 76 per cent decrease in financial charges, which stood at Rs1.571 billion, from Rs6.436 billion in the same time of 2001-02. Including the loss for the period, the accumulated deficit of KESC rose to Rs19.263 billion at end-March 2003, from the brought forward loss of Rs9.281 billion.
For the nine months under review, the Corporation showed net energy sale at Rs23.246 billion, compared with sales of Rs21.875 billion in the three-quarters of the previous year, which reflected increase of 6 per cent. By contrast, expenditure rose by 16.3 per cent to Rs30.318 billion, from Rs26.070 billion in nine months of 2001-02.
Directors did not issue a quarterly statement along with the nine-month figures to explain the huge rise in operating loss. The saving grace was of course the decrease in financial charges, which ought to be due to falling interest rates or rescheduling of debts or both.
