Cement companies listed in the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) continue to report mixed financial results for the 1HFY22-23 (July-December 2022) of the current financial year FY22-23 (July 2022-June 2023). Although companies have reported an increase in sales, their cost of sales and bank borrowing has increased, resulting in a tightening of profit margins. According to JS Global Capital Ltd, demand improvement has given the industry room to pass some of the impact of cost growth due to the federal government's recent hikes in Federal Excise Duty and sales tax.
Attock Cement Pakistan Ltd reported a decrease in profit after tax of PKR560m (US$2.02m) in the 1HFY22-23 compared to PKR852m earned in the past year's corresponding period. This represents a fall in profit of 34 per cent YoY. The net sales jumped six per cent YoY to PKR10.37bn in the 1HFY22-23 from PKR9.8bn during the year-ago period. The administrative expenses fell to PKR543m from PKR568m. The company incurred a lesser distribution cost of PKR459m against PKR496m. The finance cost heftily rose by 101 per cent to PKR214m during this period.
Gharibwal Cement earned a lesser net profit of PKR1.12bn in the 1HFY22-23, down from PKR1.24bn in the 1HFY21-22, resulting in a YoY decline in yield of 9.6 per cent. Its sales increased by 26.3 per cent YoY to PKR9.4bn. The company incurred higher administrative expenses of PKR359m against PKR250m in the same period last year and also reported higher distribution expenses of PKR42m against PKR31m in the same period.
Thatta Cement Co declared a loss after tax of PKR6.2m in the 1HFY22-23 compared to a loss of PKR59m in 1HFY21-22, despite an increase in sales. Sales rose to PKR2.4bn compared to PKR1.6bn in the 6MFY21-22. The company incurred a rising distribution cost of PKR40.7m in the 1HFY22-23 against PKR22.9m in the 6MFY21-22. Administrative expenses surged to PKR71.8m from PKR59m in the year’s corresponding period. The bank borrowing increased to PKR26.5m from PKR9.1m – a factor for losses.
Power Cement’s profit after tax increased to PKR420m from PKR280m in the 1HFY21-22, up by 49.7 per cent. Its net sales jumped to PKR12.64bn from PKR9.27bn during this period. Distribution expenses slightly increased to PKR605m against PKR604m and administrative expenses to PKR173m from PKR142m, respectively, during this period.
Dewan Cement reported a loss after tax of PKR730m in the 1HFY22-23 against a loss of PKR156m in 1HFY21-22. The company's net sales jumped to PKR9.17bn from PKR7.17bn, but administrative expenses fell to PKR407m from PKR524m. During this accounting period, the selling and distribution costs increased to PKR68m from PKR56m.
