Gharibwal Cement sees strong rise in quarterly profit, Pakistan

Pakistan-based cement producer Gharibwal Cement Ltd reported a net profit of the company was PKR178m compared to PKR32.5m for the same period last year, thanks to an increase in sales volumes, net retention prices and cost control.

Net sales of the company during the period were PKR1.77bn (US$18m) compared to PKR1.5bn during the same period of last year. Gross profit was PKR338m compared to PKR313m in the previous year, while the profit before tax was PKR188m against PKR47.8m in the comparative period of the year before.

Commenting over the progress of cement sector in last three months, Muhammad Rafique Khan, director of Gharibwal Cement, said: "During the current nine month period cement industry achieved overall net volumetric growth of 4.9 per cent, however, domestic sales volume increased by 6.05 per cent whereas export decreased by 1.19 per cent." He said that GCL performed better as compared to comparative period of last year which is mainly due to increase in sales volume, improvement in net retention prices and continued efforts of the management to control cost. All these factors over a period of nine months enabled company to increase its sales volume and sales revenue by 20 per cent and 34 per cent, respectively."

Profitability in the third quarter, however, was  affected by the ongoing energy crisis in Punjab and the company had to use furnace oil due to a complete shutdown of gas during the first two months of the period.

The company operated at 47 per cent of its installed capacity in the three month period, an improvement on the 39 per cent on the comparative three months of the year before.