KARACHI: Pakistan State Oil (PSO), the leading energy company in Pakistan, posted its profit of Rs 258.6 billion, up from 33.7 per cent growth in first quarter 2017-18 compared to the same period last year (SPLY).
The company convened its Board of Management (BoM) at PSO headquarters in Karachi to review the performance of the company for the quarter ended September 30, 2017.
Highest ever quarterly sales were recorded in MOGAS and Jet Fuel, up by 30.1 per cent and 22.6 per cent respectively over SPLY. Considerable sales growth was also witnessed in HSD, LPG, lubricants and LNG businesses with the growth of 31.4 per cent, 71.0 per cent, 36.0 per cent and 49.9 per cent respectively over SPLY.
Furnace Oil (FO) sales, however, were down by 9.4 per cent in line with a reduction in industry volumes partly due to low consumption by GENCOS and partly due to higher LNG utilisation. PSO continues to maintain its strong market leadership position with an overall liquid fuels market share of 55.8 per cent as on September 30, 2017.
Higher sales and cost-effective borrowing resulted in 14.9 per cent growth in PSO’s profit after tax which has increased from Rs 4.4 billion to Rs 5.0 billion vs SPLY and as a result, the earnings per share grew to Rs 18.5 vs Rs 16.1 SPLY.
The outstanding receivables as of September 30, 2017, stood at Rs 282.0 billion (June 30, 2017: Rs 277.1 billion) from the power sector, PIA and SNGPL against supplies of FO, aviation fuels and LNG. PSO continues to engage with relevant stakeholders for early realisation of outstanding dues. Despite pending receivables and increasing international oil prices, PSO is committed to delivering value to customers by managing its imports and refinery purchases effectively.
Last month, PSO team went beyond the call of duty to respond to the energy needs of the country by handling significantly higher volumes with its logistics partners to ensure there is no shortage of fuel in the country. It was when other oil marketing companies reduced importing fuels due to an increase in international oil prices that made the trade commercially unviable.
PSO has welcomed the initiative of the ministry of energy to deregulate HSD as it will create a competitive environment for 15 OMCs and 6 additional ones pending with OGRA.
Recently, PSO has been ranked at the top position in the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan’s (ICAP) list of top 100 corporations of the country. The ICAP top 100 companies of Pakistan list gives recognition to high performing companies where ranking is devised based on data received from the Pakistan Stock Exchange and financial reporting of the corporations. PSO’s achievement was based on meeting ICAP’s criteria set under the category of revenue wise top performing companies.
The management expressed sincere gratitude to all stakeholders including Government of Pakistan, especially the ministry of energy and shareholders of the company for their continued support. The management also thanked PSO team for their resolute and commitment as the company gears up to meet the upcoming challenges.
