October 03, 2006	Tuesday	Ramazan 9, 1427

KARACHI, Oct 2: Some of the companies that announced their financial results on Monday included: Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC), Sui Northern Gas Pipelines (SNGPL), Fauji Cement Company Limited and Pioneer Cement Limited.

SSGC: Profit after tax (PAT) of the company amounted to RsRs892m, translating into earnings per share (EPS) of Rs1.33, compared to Rs1.0bn (EPS Rs1.55) a year ago, reflecting a decrease of 12 per cent.

The board declared a final cash dividend of Rs1.3 (13 per cent) per share. Analysts commented that in spite of achieving significant increase in asset base by Rs5.2bn, the full impact of this Capital Expenditure (capex) was not travel down to the bottom-line due to Unaccounted for Gas (UFG) losses.

As per the final tariff announced by Oil & Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra), SSGC’s UFG losses in FY06 stood at 6.65 per cent, attracting a penalty of Rs478m.

SNGPL: Announced profit after tax of Rs3.7bn (EPS Rs7.46) for FY06 as against Rs2.7bn (EPS Rs5.48) the year earlier. This represented a profitability growth of 36 per cent. The company declared cash dividend of Rs3 (30pc) per share and bonus issue at 10pc.

Analysts observed that as per final tariff announced by Ogra, gross addition in fixed assets of the company during the said year stood at Rs5.6bn.

However, the company was penalised for higher Unaccounted for Gas (UFG) losses. Against the lower limit of 5.7pc, SNGPL’s UFG losses in FY06, as determined by Ogra, arrived at 6.61pc, which translated into a penalty of Rs700m.

Pioneer Cement: The company posted 104 per cent growth in after tax profit which amounted to Rs676 million, translating into EPS of Rs4.16, compared with net profit of Rs332 million the year before (EPS Rs2.33).

The board also announced cash dividend at Re1 (10pc) per share and bonus shares at 4.51pc. Analysts said that the results were in line with market expectations. Main reason for the huge increase in profitability was higher cement dispatches and better retention prices.

Fauji Cement: The company unveiled its financial figures and dividend for the year ended June 30, 2006, posting profit after tax (PAT) of Rs1.2 billion, which was equivalent to an EPS (basic) of Rs3.25 per share. The company had reported PAT of Rs510m the previous year (EPS Rs1.22).

The increased profit emanated from the benefit that travelled down to the bottom-line, due to higher sales at Rs5.7 billion, from Rs3.9 billion last year. The board recommended final cash dividend at Rs0.50 (5pc) per share.