KARACHI: Engro Fertili­sers’ profit-after-tax surged 83 per cent to Rs15 billion (earnings per share Rs11.28) during 2015 from Rs8.21bn (eps Rs6.29) a year ago.

The board on Monday announced a final cash dividend of Rs3 per share (30pc). The results were in line with market consensus estimates.

Net sales rose 44pc to Rs87.6bn during FY15, from Rs61.4bn the year ago. Cost of sales rose to Rs55.4bn, from Rs38.8bn, leaving gross profit up by 41pc to Rs32.2bn, from Rs22.6bn.

Selling and distribution expenses rose to Rs5.5bn, from Rs4.4bn and administrative expenses were up to Rs863m, from Rs772m. Other expenses swelled to Rs1.8bn, from Rs1.3bn. The finance costs fell to Rs4.6bn, from Rs6.7bn the year before.

The company announced consolidated 4Q2015 earnings at Rs5.3bn (eps Rs3.9) against Rs2.7bn (eps Rs2.0) in the same quarter last year.

Analyst Muhammad Tahir Saeed at Topline Securities stated that in 4Q2015, revenue of the company increased by 102pc to Rs35.8bn YoY owing to 17pc uptick in urea sales volumes and 6.5 times in DAP sales due to subsidy of Rs500 per bag announced by the government.

Published in Dawn, February 9th, 2016