The corporate sector's profit has increased by 14 percent on year-on-year basis to Rs 56.7 billion in the third quarter of 2007 as compared to Rs 50 billion in the same quarter in 2006.
The profit of corporate sector companies, having over 75 percent of the total market capitalisation of KSE-100 index, has surged by eight percent on quarter-on-quarter basis in this quarter over the second quarter this year.
"Major reason for this growth is a boost in the profitability of refineries, insurance, Oil & Gas Marketing (OMC) and fertiliser sectors", said Bilal Hameed at JS Global Capital Limited.
These sectors' earnings rose by 720 percent, 336 percent, 136 percent and 86 percent respectively, he added. Similarly, index heavyweight banks and E&P sectors also registered a rise of seven percent and five percent respectively.
"Within our JS universe, cement, telecom and PSF sectors were the laggards. The PSF sector showed the worst performance as its profit decreased by 109 percent in the third quarter 2007", he said.
Similarly, cement sector showed negative growth of 48 percent primarily due to low retention prices and high input costs, he added.
Furthermore, a decline of 42 percent was seen in profitability of the telecom sector mainly due to Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL), whose margins as well as fixed line subscriber base were falling amid competition, he said.