KARACHI, Jan 17: Pakistan’s main electricity operator Hub Power Company on Friday ruled out making a first-half dividend payout in February, but said its board may reconsider the issue at a later meeting.

Hubco chief executive Vince Harris told Dow Jones Newswires a board meeting next month would discuss the company’s earnings for the first half to end-December but would not discuss dividend policy. He said another meeting might be held in March or April to discuss the dividend issue.

“This (February meeting) is a routine board meeting dealing with the six-month accounts of the company,” Harris said. “This board meeting is unlikely to discuss the dividend issue.” Hubco’s stock price surged more than four-fold last year, largely on hopes for a higher dividend payout.

Analysts expect the company to pay a first-half dividend of more than Rs3, compared with Rs4 in the year-ago period.

People close to the company said Hubco had first to discuss the dividend issue with its lenders, who partly funded the $1.5-billion power project near Karachi.

Hubco resumed paying dividends in 2001, following a gap of almost three years, after it last year resolved a tariff row with Wapda. The row had dented foreign-investor sentiment, as Hubco’s major shareholders includes Britain’s International Power (IPR) and Saudi Arabia’s Xenel Industries.

Mr Harris said Hubco was enjoying an excellent relationship with Wapda after the resolution of the power row. “One example of that is when Wapda provided us technical help when our power facility (generator) broke down,” he said.

He said that in the next two to three years, Hubco’s tariff to Wapda would come down when it had paid the major part of its international loans. In its last quarterly results, Hubco reported a slight increase in first-quarter net profit to Rs1.473 billion and earnings per share of Rs1.27.—Dow Jones Newswires