KARACHI, Oct 10: Dewan Farooque Motors Limited (DFML) — the last of the listed car manufacturers — announced financial figures for the year ended June 30, 2005 on Monday, posting 37 per cent growth in after tax profit to Rs306 million, from Rs223 million in the previous year.

The Board declared cash dividend at 15 per cent. Diluted earning per share (eps) for FY05 worked out at Rs3.97 as against Rs2.90 during FY04. The market price of the DFML stock on Monday stood at Rs27.60, which produced the price-to-earnings (p/e) ratio of 7x.

Analysts stated that higher profit ensued from dual impact of volumetric growth in sales and improved operating margin, the latter rising to 7.7 per cent from 6.4 per cent. The company sold 15,999 vehicles during FY05, reflecting growth of 33 per cent from 12,031 units sold last year.

The company has also began FY06 on a positive note with cumulative sales for the first two months (July-August 2005) depicting 7 per cent increase to 1,747 units as against 1,639 in the corresponding period of the previous year.

In terms of value, sales during FY05 increased by 33 per cent to Rs8,786m over FY04 sales of Rs6,587m, mainly due to higher sales volume and increased product prices. DFML had raised prices of its products in November 2004 and April 2005.