KARACHI – Pakistan Oilfields Limited (POL) announced profit-after-tax at Rs5.34 billion for the half year ended Dec 31, 2014, earnings per share at Rs22.6, down by 22.6pc from Rs6.9bn and earnings per share of Rs29.19 of the same previous period.
The Pakistan Oilfields Limited’ board declared interim cash dividend at Rs15 per share, which stood down from Rs20 per share paid in 1HFY14. “POL December earnings at Rs.22.60 were below expectations while payout 150pc remained healthy,” said a senior equity analyst.
Its topline advanced by a meagre 0.5pc in 1HFY15, which was attributable to declining oil prices as sales shrank by 18pc QoQ to Rs8.1bn in 2QFY15. During 1HFY15, POL’s oil production grew by 16.5pc while gas production declined by 9.7pc. Analyst Bilal Shariff at Topline commented that although gross margins at 58pc in 1HFY15 did show an upswing from 56pc in 1HFY14, increase was mainly due to lower-than-expected amortisation on development and decommissioning costs in 1QFY15. In 2QFY15, gross margins fell to 55pc.
