February 8, 2006	Wednesday	Muharram 9, 1427

KARACHI, Feb 7: Pakistan State Oil (PSO) on Tuesday reported a 28.5 per cent increase in first-half net profit to Rs3.355 billion (+ACQ-56 million) and announced an interim dividend of Rs5 per share.

Net profit for six months to Dec 31 increased from Rs2.61bn for the same period a year earlier, the company said in a statement to the Karachi Stock Exchange. The result was below a range of Rs3.716bn to Rs4.125bn forecast by financial analysts.

The earning per share for the six months was Rs19.56, up from Rs15.22 in the corresponding period a year ago.

In the first quarter of 2005-06 (July-September), PSO earned a net profit of Rs2.54 billion, more than double the figure for the same period a year ago.

However, during the October-December period, the company earned a net profit of only Rs818.58 million.—Reuters