Pakistan State Oil Limited has recorded highest ever turnover of Rs 1.4 trillion in the FY 2014 against Rs 1.3 trillion in FY 2013 showing an increase of 9 percent besides maintaining overall market leadership by 62 percent, despite higher finance cost borne by the company owing to the burgeoning circular debt. PSO Deputy Managing Director and Head of Finance and IT, Sohail Ahmed Butt said this while speaking at a Corporate Briefing Programme held at the Lahore Stock Exchange (LSE) on Wednesday.
PSO Managing Director Amjad Pervaiz Janjua and LSE Managing Director Aftab Ahmed Chaudhry also spoke on the occasion. He said the company also achieved all-time high performance benchmarks without any increase in margins during the year. The company with the highest contribution owing to the national exchequer has recorded the best ever key financial indicators; comprising of turnover, operating profit and after tax earnings, he added.
The company's gross profit has also been increased from Rs 34.1 billion of 2013 to Rs 36.8 billion, showing a gain of 8 percent while normal profit has been also jumped by 31 percent to Rs 18.8 billion compared with Rs 14.4 billion of 2013. The profit after tax has been improved by 73 percent to Rs 21.8 billion in 2014 against Rs 46.5 billion in 2013 while taxes to the government have also been increased by 10 percent from Rs 262 billion of 2013 to Rs 289 billion in 2014. The earning per share was moved up by 73 percent to Rs 80.3 in 2014 against Rs 46.5 of 2013 while market capitalization stood at Rs 106 billion as of June 30, 2014 compared with Rs 79 billion of the corresponding period of 2013, he added.
The Deputy Managing Director said that the PSO's furnace oil market share is 73 percent with 9 percent increase in volume (Rs 566 billion against 506 billion, denoting an increase of 12 percent. The Mogas market share is 49 percent with an increase of 11 percent in volumes (Rs 274 billion against Rs 225 billion with 22 percent increase). Similarly, the HSD constitutes 54 percent market share with 6 percent decline in volumes (Rs 489 billion against 491 billion showing 1 percent decrease), he added.
He said the power sector receivables will continue to put pressure on liquidity. However, PSO's management is constantly following up the matter with the ministries concerned. He further said that the focus would remain on lubricant and LNG business in future.
Talking about the oil industry, Sohail Butt said the overall industry volumes in financial year 2014 have been increased by 9 percent to 21.25 MMT as compared to 19.53 MMT in the financial year 2013. Black oil (FO) demand goes up by 13 percent, white oil demand increased by 5 percent in 2014, while Mogas and High Speed Diesel (HSD) rose by 15 percent and 1 percent respectively.
He also shared the company has plans for further expansion in Pakistan and has increased its shareholding in Pakistan Refinery Limited from 18 percent to 22 percent for increasing its backward integration for improving the supply chain of the product. Speaking on the occasion, Amjad Pervaiz Janjua paid tributes to the investors for leading the company to surpass Rs 100 billion mark of market capitalization resulting in positioning PSO as one of the few Index heavy weights in the domestic capital market. He said the company has also outshined its performance globally by entering the prestigious club of world's biggest publicly-traded companies on the Forbes 2000 list.
Responding to newsmen, Janjua said that no initiative has so far been taken for privatisation of PSO. About the financial status, he said that with the release of Rs 20 billion by the government, the company's financial health would further be improved.
Aftab Ahmed Chaudhry has urged the listed corporations to make use of the corporate briefing programme to create a strong bond with their investors. He said that such regular communication with the investors would help the companies in their capital structure planning as the companies would be able to assess the mood of the investors and plan further capital raising through secondary public offering or the right shares. He said that LSE considers it essential for the companies to participate in such programmes so that there is no information asymmetry regarding our listed companies.