KARACHI: Attock Petroleum Limited (APL) on Wednesday announced its earnings for the first quarter of this fiscal year clocked in at Rs1.56 billion, converting into earnings per share (eps) at Rs18.85, representing a 126pc increase over profit after tax at Rs0.69bn and eps at Rs8.34 in 1QFY16.

Analyst Muhammad Affan Ismail at BMA Capital Management commented that the results were above expectations, possibly due to realisation of inventory gains. In addition, a sharp recovery in volumetric sales of motor gasoline (mogas) and an uptick in OMC margins on both petrol and high-speed diesel (HSD) could be cited as major factors that propelled gross profit by 123pc year-on-year to Rs2.29bn in 1QFY17, from Rs1.02bn same time last year.

Analysts at Topline Securities observed that sales of APL remained flat at Rs31.5bn due to lower oil prices during the quarter. Prices of mogas and furnace oil decreased 14pc whereas those of HSD were down 18pc.

Sales volume grew by 12pc to 519,000 tonnes that supported APL turnover during the quarter. Gross profits were up 123pc to Rs2.29bn was believed to be due to absence of major inventory losses and higher margin on mogas.

Published in Dawn, October 20th, 2016