The Hub Power Co Ltd (Hubco) posted a 3.5 percent increase in its first-half profit as a depreciation in the rupee supported its dollar-based earnings, a press release issued here on Thursday said. Hubco, which is 16.6 percent owned by Britain's International Power Plc., began operations in 1997 and runs a 1,292MW thermal power plant near Karachi, the release added.
According to the release, net profit for the first half of 2004-05 (July-June) rose to Rs 2.67 billion from the year-ago period, the company said in an announcement to the Karachi Stock Exchange.
The result was slightly below the range of Rs 2.7 billion to Rs 2.8 billion forecast by the analysts, who expected full-year earnings of Rs 5.54 billion as compared to Rs 5.46 billion in the previous fiscal year.
Earnings per share were Rs 2.31, compared with Rs 2.23 in the same period, a year earlier.
Jahangir Siddiqui Capital Market Research Director Muhammad Sohail said a decline of around 1.75 percent in the rupee's value against the dollar during the first six months had benefited the company.
In the July to October period, the rupee depreciated nearly 5.5 percent due to high oil import prices and Pakistan's widening trade deficit. It, however, recovered 3.7 percent in November and December thanks partly to the central bank support.
"We expect an interim cash dividend of 15 percent to 17 percent to be announced by the company in March because of higher earnings," Sohail said.
The firm did not announce any interim dividend to the shareholders, who received Rs 3.30 per share in March 2003.
Comments
Comments are closed.