KARACHI: Maple Leaf Cement Factory Ltd’s (MLCF) half-yearly after-tax profit rose 12 per cent year-on-year to Rs2.62 billion, translating into earnings per share of Rs4.97.

Sales increased by 11pc year-on-year to Rs11.92bn during the July-December period. The company’s directors also declared an interim dividend of Rs2 per share (20pc).

During the October-December quarter, MLCF’s consolidated net sales grew 8pc, mainly driven by higher local cement sales. Local despatches jumped 15pc thanks to rising demand from infrastructure spending.

The company’s cement exports continued to falter, falling 29pc due to lower sales to Afghanistan, which is Pakistan’s biggest export market. “Exports to Afghanistan declined on account of increased competition from Iranian cement,” said Nabeel Khursheed, analyst at Topline Securities.

Despite increase in coal prices, which went up by 10pc year-on-year to $62 a tonne, the company’s gross margins remained flat. Analysts attributed it to efficient energy mix and lower priced coal inventory.

Net earnings for the October-December quarter dropped 4pc due to an 11-percentage-point increase in effective tax rate. This was on account of exhaustion of available tax losses to the company.

MILLAT TRACTORS: The company’s after-tax profit skyrocketed 242pc to Rs1.76bn during the six months ending Dec 31. Earnings per share jumped to Rs39.79 from Rs11.62 a year ago.

MTL’s net sales amounted to Rs12.21bn during the period, up from Rs8.27bn.

During the three months through December, the company reported net consolidated earnings of Rs1.02bn, up six times year-on-year. Earnings per share equalled Rs23.1.

Net revenues increased by 65pc to Rs7.3bn while gross profit margins improved by 16 percentage points year-on-year to 28pc.

Sales volumes of the company stood at 7,869 units during the quarter, a rise of 123pc. The MTL also announced an interim cash dividend of Rs35 a share.

Published in Dawn February 17th, 2017