October 22, 2003	Wednesday	Sha’aban 25, 1424

KARACHI, Oct 21: Tri-Pack Films Limited posted 27 per cent higher pretax profit at Rs201.5 million for the three-quarters ended September 2003, from Rs158.8 million in the corresponding period of the previous year.

The company financial results, released on Tuesday, showed that after-tax profit had declined by one per cent to Rs155.3 million, from Rs156.2 million, due to the higher incidence of taxation in the latest nine months.

Provision for taxation stood at Rs46.2 million for nine months to end September 2003, from Rs2.6 million same time last year, with the tax incidence up to 23 per cent from 2 per cent. Earning per share worked out at Rs5.18 for the nine months under review, compared with Rs5.21 in the same period last year.

Net sales grew 21 per cent to Rs1,102.1 million for the period under review, from Rs909.1 million in the nine months of 2002 and operating profit improved by 9.5 per cent to Rs231.2 million, from Rs210.7 million. The significant feature of the accounts was 55 per cent decrease in financial charges to Rs21.4 million, from Rs47.1 million in the similar three-quarters of last year.