KARACHI, April 23: It’s the corporate reporting season. And while several heavyweights have already declared their results, a good many are still in the pipeline. The Board of Directors of Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) was scheduled to meet on Friday, April 22, to review 3QFY05 accounts.

Given that Friday was a bank holiday; there was a possibility of the meeting being rescheduled. Elixir Securities said that they expected the company to report a marginal 1.1pc year-on-year increase in 3QFY05 earnings (down 23pc quarter-on-quarter) to Rs6,319mn (EPS: Rs1.24). No interim payout was expected. “This should take 9-month earnings to Rs20,842mn (EPS: Rs4.09), 6.7pc higher YoY,” analysts said.

The board of directors of Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) was scheduled to meet on Saturday, to review 3QFY05 results. Analysts said they expected the company to post after-tax profits of Rs9,677mn for the quarter (EPS: Rs2.25), up 42pc YoY, taking 9MFY05 earnings to Rs25,456mn, (EPS: Rs5.92) higher by 54pc YoY. The company was also expected to announce cash dividend of Rs1.50 per share. Full year earnings forecast for OGDCL was Rs34,622mn (EPS: Rs8.05).

The Board of Directors of Pakistan Petroleum limited also planned to meet on Saturday, to review 3QFY05 results. Analysts expected the company to post after-tax profit to Rs2,003m (Rs2.92), bringing 9-month FY05 earnings to Rs6059mn (EPS: Rs8.83). Figures for the corresponding period are not available.

Earlier, Pakistan Oilfields Limited (POL) had declared Rs2.4b profit after tax (EPS: Rs18.27) for 9mths’05, which analysts at First National Equities said, were in line with their expectations) as against Rs1.8b (EPS: Rs13.81) in 9mths’04 due to start of production from the Tal block and higher oil prices.