KARACHI, July 29: Pakistan State Oil (PSO) has earned an all time high after-tax profit of Rs4.2 billion in 2003- 2004, up by 4.5 per cent from the previous fiscal despite major decline in fuel oil sales volume to 2.3 million tons.

The company would have recorded much higher revenue as well as profits if it had sold the same fuel oil volumes in the preceding year. The Board of Management of the PSO, which reviewed on Thursday the financial performance for the year ended June 30, 2004, announced a cash dividend of Rs7.50 per share (75 per cent) to its shareholders, resulting in total dividend of 175 per cent for the whole year as against 160 per cent cash dividend declared during the preceding year.

The BoM, presided over by Pervaiz Kausar, board's chairman, observed that in 2003-2004, country's business environment gained greater momentum mainly due to a sharp rise in industrial production and a strong upsurge in investment. This depicted an encouraging trend for the future also.

In 2003-2004, white oil products registered a growth of 5.7 per cent over last year, which was contributed primarily by an increase in consumption of mogas and high speed diesel to the tune of 14.7 per cent and 4.8 per cent respectively. Kerosene, however, as expected, showed a decline of 12.7 per cent due to availability of cheaper fuel alternatives such as natural gas and LPG.

However, country's overall POL consumption was 14.2 million tons, down by 14 per cent over 2002-2003 as a result of an unprecedented drop in black oil consumption, which was mainly due to 42 per cent decline in furnace oil consumption.

PSO successfully enhanced its share during 2003-2004 in white oil owing to sound and aggressive initiatives. The company gained 1.5 per cent market share in mogas, bringing the total to 44 per cent, and thus regaining its market leadership position after several years. In HSD, the company increased its participation to around 61 per cent (an increase of 0.5 per cent).

Similarly, JP-1 share stood at 63 per cent, while kerosene participation went up to 74 per cent. Despite stiff competition in fuel oil, the company's market share stood at over 73 per cent.

The board noted the unprecedented performance of the company, which was mainly due to prudent strategies pursued by the management specifically in the area of marketing where innovative and novel products such as Green XL Plus Diesel, PSO Prepaid Cards and Retail Automation Assurance (RAQA) programmes were launched.

The board anticipated that with the same momentum, steady progress in overall operations and further prudent investment in strategic projects would be achieved.