KARACHI: The Sui Southern Gas Company’s profits were trimmed by 285.6 per cent in the financial year ended on June 30, 2009, largely because of higher unaccounted for gas (UFG) touching 7.93 per cent, which invoked a penalty by Ogra of Rs2.8 billion.

Though the SSGC after-tax-profit was Rs257 million as compared to Rs991 million during the preceding fiscal year, the differential of Rs734 million or 285.6 per cent raised serious question mark about the efficiency of the management and transparency in its affairs.

The SSGC also resorted to bank borrowing at higher financial cost to fund its capital projects and debt servicing, resulting in huge financial charges, which significantly trimmed the company’s profits.

This has been spelt out in the 55th annual report of the company.

Chairman of the company Saleem Abbas Jilani in his review has observed that the company’s board was concerned about the rise in the UFG and continuation of unresolved issues with Ogra and have taken two specific measures to remedy the situation.