Author: Hamza Shahnawaz

KARACHI: Lucky Cement Limited on Friday announced consolidated earnings of Rs17.15 billion for the first half ended December 31, 2021.

Out of which Rs4.01 billion is attributable to non-controlling interests for the first half ended December 31, 2021.

This translates into earnings per share (EPS) of PKR 40.66 / share as compared to PKR 32.05 / share reported during the same period last year.

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Further, on a consolidated basis, the Company achieved gross turnover of Rs154.50 billion which is 24.9 per cent higher as compared to the same period last year’s turnover of Rs123.72 billion.

During the HY 2021-22 under review, the company’s consolidated net profit (attributable to owners’ of the Holding Company) increased by 26.8 per cent as compared to the same period last year.

The increase in net profit was mainly attributable to the stellar performance of Company’s Chemicals business.

Apart from the one-off unrealized accounting gain recognized on acquisition of controlling shares in NutriCo Pakistan amounting to Rs1.847 billion, the Chemical business achieved considerable improvement in net profitability on account of impressive growth in its Polyester, Pharma and Animal Health business segments.

In the automobile business, Lucky Motor Corporation introduced Kia Stonic in its line up as well as started commercial production of Samsung branded mobile phones during the half year under review.

Whereas, profitability of Company’s overseas operations increased mainly due to improvement in sales volume and operations of Company’s Joint Venture Greenfield cement plant in Samawah, Iraq, which achieved its COD in March 2021.

On unconsolidated basis Company’s overall sales volumes posted a decline of 5.9 per cent to reach 4.70 million tons during HY 2021-22. Company’s local sales volumes remained almost in line with the corresponding period last year i.e. 3.63 million tons in 1HY 2021-22 versus 3.66 million tons during the same period last year. The export sales volumes of the Company declined by 19.7 per cent to 1.07 million tons as compared to 1.34 million tons during the same period last year.

The decline in overall dispatches is mainly attributed to decline in export volumes on the back of volatily in coal prices and freight costs internationally, which have adversely impacted the viability of cement exports from Pakistan.

Further, with regards to Company’s unconsolidated financial performance, the gross sales revenue increased by 20.2 per cent to PKR 50.61 billion compared to PKR 42.11 billion reported during the same period last year. The per ton cost of sales also increased mainly due to increase in coal prices along with other input costs. Lucky Cement recorded net profit after tax of PKR 5.77 billion showing growth of 27.2 per cent. Similarly, the standalone EPS of the Company is PKR 17.86 / share as compared to the same period last year’s reported EPS of PKR 14.04 / share.

The Company reported progress on its brownfield plant expansion activities in KPK with project completion targeted for December 2022.

The construction activity for setting up a 660 MW super critical, lignite coal-based power plant is near to completion and it has been synchronized with the national grid in November 2021. The Project is currently under testing phase and it is targeted to achieve COD in February 2022.

Lucky Cement continued its patronage on Education & Scholarship, Women Empowerment, Health, Environment Conservation and reassured its commitment for the development of society and the communities in which it operates.

While the previous waves of Covid-19 receded in the past, the pandemic continues to resurge with different variants of the virus. Even with the persistent drive of the Government on compliance of SOPs and getting the masses vaccinated, prudent expectation is that volatile infection rates will continue for the time being. We, however expect that the economy will continue to show resilience against the adverse impacts of such pandemic.

On the other hand, the ongoing inflationary trend in commodities globally has resulted in an increase in cost of inputs, such as coal, diesel, furnace oil and freight charges, which are a major cost component of cement. Currency devaluation has further impacted and increased these costs.  Due to increase in costs of other construction materials, the local demand will remain flat. At the same time, cement prices have only partially offset the increase in input costs faced by the manufacturers.

Construction of dams, hydropower projects, real estate development and low cost housing schemes will help to maintain the demand of cement in the medium to long term.