KARACHI: The Oil and Gas Development Company Ltd’s (OGDCL) after-tax profit fell 36 per cent to Rs43.5 billion during the nine months ended March 31, 2016, translating into earnings per share (eps) of Rs10.1.

The company’s profit stood at Rs68bn (eps: Rs15.81) during the same period of last year.

The results were below consensus expectations which analysts thought was due to higher-than-expected exploration costs.

The OGDCL’s board declared a cash dividend of Re0.50 per share, taking the July-March FY16 payout to Rs3.20 per share. Its revenue shark 25pc to Rs122.7bn during the period from Rs163bn a year ago.

During the January-March quarter, the company’s earnings plunged 54pc year-on-year to Rs9.3bn (eps: Rs2.2), which was also below market expectations.

Net sales of the exploration and production company dropped 17pc year-on-year to Rs36.5bn during the quarter, mainly on account of 41pc fall in benchmark Arab Light Crude oil prices during the period.

Oil volumes during the quarter increased 1.6pc to 40,700 barrels of oil per day (bopd), while gas volume declined by 6pc to 1,115 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd).

K-ELECTRIC: KE announced July-March FY16 net earnings at Rs22.8bn (eps: Re0.83). For the January-March quarter, the company reported an after-tax profit of Rs3.8bn (eps: Rs0.14), a year-on-year growth of 27pc. Energy sales increased 6pc to Rs32.1bn as demand for electricity is increasing, the power utility said.

KEL’s electricity purchases from the grid fell 37pc year-on-year to Rs10.7bn. Earnings also improved due to reduction in transmission and distribution losses.

The company’s board of directors have approved incorporation of a new joint-venture private limited company for development of a 700-megawatt (two units of 350MW each) coal-fired power plant at Port Qasim, which is being developed with Chinese partners. KE will subscribe to 24pc of initial capital of the company.

FAUJI FERTILISER COMPANY: The FFC posted a profit of Rs2.73 billion during the quarter ended March 31, 2016. With earnings per share at Rs2.14, the company declared Rs1.85 divided per share.

Its urea production was 614,000 tonnes during the quarter, but as urea market witnessed a decline of around 50pc in sales, the inventory stocks accumulated to around 1.2 million tonnes.

United Bank Limited: The UBL posted an after-tax profit of Rs7.561 billion during January-March, a quarter-on-quarter increase of 14pc, mainly on account 71pc growth in the non-interest income.

Its earnings per share rose 19pc to Rs6.14 over the previous quarter.

According to research report of Arif Habib Limited, UBL’s net interest income (NII) was not on a par with October-December 2015 results, as interest income declined 3pc while the cost of funds picked up 4pc.

Published in Dawn, April 27th, 2016