Kohat Cement's full-year profits fall 16%

Kohat Cement Company Ltd (KCCL) has informed the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on 19 September that its full-year net profit for 2018 was down by 16 per cent to PKR2.98bn (US$24.1m) YoY. The company's local and export sales also contracted by one per cent to PKR13.43bn.

The market attributes fall in profit to a 21 per cent YoY rise in coal prices with an average rupee depreciation of five per cent during this period and a 50 per cent rise in fuel oil prices. KCCL incurred selling and distribution cost of PKR124m against PKR129m spent in the same period last year. Financing cost increased to PKR106m from PKR84m YoY.

The company has planned an expansion of 2.45Mta, which is expected to commence operations by March 2020. This expansion would upgrade KOHC's domestic market share towards eight per cent against 6.2 per cent in FY18. KCCL has also initiated a new grinding mill, which has remained a long-standing bottleneck for the company in achieving higher utilisation levels.