Attock Cement Pakistan Limited (ACPL) announced its 3QFY19 financial result on Thursday, where the company posted a profitability decline of 17% YoY to PKR 559mn (EPS: PKR 4.07) compared to PKR 674mn (EPS: PKR 4.90) in SPLY. This took the 9MFY19 earnings to PKR 1,376mn (EPS: PKR 10.01), depicting a dip of 25% YoY.
The company’s top-line in 3QFY19 clocked-in at PKR 5.5bn, up by 21% YoY on the back of a 32% YoY jump in total dispatches to 821k tons together with higher retention prices. In 9MFY19 revenue witnessed a growth of a solid 34% to PKR 16.3bn amid 48% upsurge in dispatches.
Albeit, gross margins of ACPL dropped by 5ppts YoY to 25% during the period under review in light of weaker domestic dispatches to 482k tons tagged with 20% deprecation in the Pak Rupee against USD. Whereas in 9MFY19, gross margins took a beating to 23% (9MFY18: 33%) given higher coal prices and PKR depreciation.
On a QoQ basis, margins improved from 21% in 2QFY19 led by improvement in dispatches and higher prices which translated into a profitability jump of 42% QoQ.
Selling expenses rose by 29% YoY during 3QFY19 to PKR 350mn, in-line with higher offtake (exports witnessed a growth of 3x YoY to 338k tons (3QFY18: 109k tons).
In addition, finance costs rose by a massive 150% YoY to PKR 185mn on account of higher interest rates and borrowing.
ACPL booked effective taxation at 18% in 3QFY19 vis-à-vis 23% in SPLY.
