Daily Times

KARACHI: Bearish spell continued on the last trading day of the week at Pakistan equity in the backdrop of political tensions, which led the KSE 100 index to decline by 114 points or 0.29 percent to close at 39,872 level.

Due to prevailing political situation, profit taking and lack of incentives, the index lost around 1,673 points since it hit an all-time high on October 20.

“Strong corporate results in selected cement and oil scrips supported the index to close above session lows. Pressure in global crude prices, foreign outflows and concerns for dismal exports played a catalyst role in bearish close, said senior analyst Ahsan Mehnti.

OGRA in its motion for review stated that the cost on account of late payments to gas producers will be under consideration to form part of determination for revenue requirement for FY16. This led SSGC & SNGP to close at their upper limit of 5 percent, analysts at Toplines Securities said.

Overall, volumes declined by 14.5 percent to 328 million shares, while value decreased by 13 percent to Rs10.8 billion/$104 million. On Thursday the 384 million shares worth Rs 12.4 billion /$119 million were traded at the bourse.

Bank of Punjab remained the volume leader with 47 million shares traded while TRG Pakistan, K electric, Dewan Cement, TPL Trakker LtdXD and Pace Pakistan followed with 17 million, 14 million, 14 million, 13 million and 11 millions shares respectively

Results: Nishat Mills announced results for 1QFY17 in which the company reported consolidated profit (attributable to majority shareholders) of Rs 1.6 billion (EPS Rs4.57), up 31 percent YoY. This result was above market estimates. Consolidated sales declined merely by 2 percent YoY to Rs 17 billion in the outgoing quarter. This was primarily on account of lower revenues of Nishat Mills on standalone basis, as sales fell by 3 percent YoY to Rs 11 billion. NML’s gross margins remained flat at around 16.6 percent for the quarter, which is in line with last three year average gross margin of around 17 percent. Gross profit clocked in at Rs 2.8 billion (down by only 2.5 percent YoY). Finance cost played a major role to support earnings, posted a decline of approximately 26 percent YoY to Rs 394 million as a result of low interest rate environment, report by Topline Securities said.

FCCL announced its 4QFY16/1QFY17 results where it posted NPAT of Rs 1.03 billion/Rs 609 million (Fully diluted EPS: Rs 0.75/Rs 0.44), registering an earnings decline of 30 percent YoY/45 percent YoY. While 4QFY16 earnings came in line with market expectations of Rs 0.71 per share, 1QFY17 earnings were significantly lower than expectation of Rs 0.82 as GM declined by 19.04ppt YoY to 23.84 percent due to lower margins realized on cement grinding from outsourced clinker. However, 8 percent YoY growth in topline and stronger GM (+8.03ppt YoY) backed by lower energy costs & installation of 10MW WHR resulted in 30 percent YoY growth in FY16 earnings standing at Rs 5.37 billion (Fully diluted EPS: Rs 3.89). In addition, FCCL also announced a final dividend of Rs 1 per share higher than expectation of Rs 0.5 per share.

HASCOL posted 3QCY16 NPAT of Rs 292 million higher by 23% YoY deviating from market estimates on account of higher effective tax rate (48% against estimate of 37%).