Big jumps in profits of Lucky Cement, Attock Cement

[LahoreEstate]

By Tanveer Ahmed

KARACHI: A number of listed companies announced their financial results on Monday including a few that had withheld their earnings reports because of controversy about the treatment of “available for sale” investments.

Two major cement companies showed great leaps in their profits, but a large bank reported negligible growth in profit. A refinery reported huge losses.

Lucky Cement: Lucky Cement posted 43.66 percent growth in its profit after tax (PAT) to Rs 1.938 billion in the first half of current financial year from Rs 1.349 billion in the corresponding period of previous year.

Its earnings per share (EPS) rose to Rs 5.99 in the period under review from Rs 5.12 in the same period of previous year. Profit before tax surged to Rs 2.212 billion from Rs 1.043 billion in the first half of previous year.

Sales shot up to Rs 5.269 billion during the period compared with Rs 3.587 billion last year, as both local and export demand moved up.

Attock Cement: Attock Cement posted a phenomenal 200 percent growth in PAT to Rs 720 million in the first half of current fiscal year, rising from Rs 240 million in the corresponding period of last year.

Its EPS jumped to Rs 9.98 during this period from Rs 3.34 in the same period of last year. Profit before tax rose to Rs 933 million from Rs 377 million.

Sales of the company witnessed almost 100 percent growth during the period under review to Rs 3.983 billion from Rs 2.012 billion in the same period of last year.

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