KARACHI, Sept 2: The Hub Power Company Limited (Hubco) announced on Friday net profit of Rs5,385 million for the year ended June 30, 2005, which translated into earnings per share (eps) of Rs4.65.

The board which had met a day earlier in London, also recommended cash dividend at 26 per cent (Rs2.60 per share), which was in addition to the 13 per cent (Rs1.30 per share) interim (announced with the nine months accounts) paid on April 28, 2005.

The after tax profit for the latest year showed a decline of 1.4 per cent to the earlier year’s net profit at Rs5,463 million and eps of Rs4.72. The results were nonetheless better than expected by the market, which thought the earnings could turn out to be still lower. The total payout produced a yield of 14 per cent.

Analysts said in a post-results review that the company had fully repaid its senior debt amounting to Rs23.9 billion. All debt service reserve accounts had been released. Some analysts commented that the release of the reserves could have induced the higher payouts.

The plant operated at a load factor of 18.79 per cent dispatching 1,975 GWhs of electricity versus 15.63 per cent load factor in FY04 and 1,647 GWhs of electricity. About 74.10 per cent of capacity was made available to Wapda during the year.

The Hubco stock at the Karachi Stock Exchange gained 60 paisa to close at Rs27.80 with a volume of 8.8 million shares traded on Friday. Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the company is scheduled to be held in Islamabad on October 19.