Kohat Cement reports profit increase of 32.7%

Kohat Cement announced a profit after tax of PKR4.4bn (US$42.1m) for the financial year ending 30 June 2016, a 32.7 per cent increase from the PKR3.2bn achieved in the corresponding period last year. Gross profit was posted at PKR6.49bn compared to PKR4.81bn in the previous year.

In the given period, net sales increased 12.4 per cent to PKR14.02bn compared to PKR12.47bn in the previous year. Cost of sales for the same period was reported at PKR7.5bn, a slight decrease from the PKR7.65bn posted last year.

Kohat Cement Directors attributed the healthy profitability to historic growth in sales volumes, a reduction in coal and electricity costs and generation of low-cost electricity from the company’s captive power plant and waste heat recovery power plant, which started production power from 1 April 2016.

Cement production increased by 14.05 per cent to 2.09Mt in FY15-16. In a statement to the Pakistan Stock Exchange, Kohat Cement revealed it intends to explore the opportunity to increase its production capacity by 2.3Mta via green and brownfield production lines. The installation of a 105tph cement mill is currently being undertaken and is expected to be completed by December 2017.