Engro Corp posts 23% revenue growth in nine months

Engro Corp posts 23% revenue growth in nine months

KARACHI: Engro Corporation Limited has posted a significant 23 per cent growth in consolidated revenue for the nine-month period ended on September 30, 2021.

Pakistan’s premier conglomerate, Engro Corporation (PSX: ENGRO) announced its financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2021.

Engro delivered a strong operational performance in first nine months of 2021 as its consolidated revenue grew by 23 per cent from Rs 182,497 million as compared with Rs223,581 million in the corresponding period of the last year.

The company recorded a consolidated Profit After Tax (PAT) of Rs40,504 million up by 31 per cent from same period last year.

Profit attributable to the owners stood at Rs23,173 million compared to Rs18,345 million in the first nine months of 2020, resulting in an Earnings per Share (EPS) of Rs40.22 compared to Rs31.84 in the nine months of 2020. The growth in the bottom line is primarily attributable to increased profits posted by Fertilizers and Petrochemicals businesses.

On a standalone basis, the Company posted a PAT of Rs 16,015 million against Rs 9,283 million in 9M 2020, translating into an EPS of Rs 27.80 per share. The Company also announced an interim cash dividend of Rs 5 per share for third quarter taking the total dividend distributed for the year to Rs 24 per share.

Financial Performance – Segmental Perspective:

Fertilizers: Domestic market witnessed strong agricultural sector performance in 2021 with limited impact from COVID-19 led lockdowns. Prices of agri commodities remained firm during the quarter resulting in improved earnings for farmers and higher urea industry volumes versus prior year.

Engro Fertilizers Limited (“EFert”) revenue during the period stood at Rs 92,742 million versus 78,138 million on the back of higher Urea sales of 1,644 KT in comparison to 1,451 KT in 9M 2020. Urea production stood 1,560 KT versus 1,694 KT in 9M 2020 on account of planned plant turnarounds. EFert recorded Phosphate sales of 242 KT against 366 KT in 9M 2020. As a result, the PAT for EFert stood at Rs 14,921 million for 9M 2021 as compared to Rs 11,491 million in the same period last year.

Petrochemicals: International PVC prices reached an all-time high of $1850/MT by September end due to high demand along with global supply disruptions. Domestic PVC market recorded a volumetric increase of 30 per cent in Q3 2021 against previous quarter as buying sentiment improved.

Engro Polymers and Chemicals Limited (“EPCL”) announced commercial operations of the new PVC plant on March 01, 2021, increasing the capacity by 100 KT to 295 KT per annum and commercial operations of 50 KT new VCM DBN capacity on June 25, 2021 increasing capacity to 245 KT per annum.

In 9M 2021, EPCL recorded a revenue of Rs 49,323 million as compared to Rs 22,931 million in in 9M 2020. The business witnessed its highest ever profit of Rs 10,372 million versus Rs 2,103 million on account of increased volumetric sales, efficient operations and higher international prices.

Connectivity: Engro continued to expand its footprint through Engro Enfrashare which has now become the country’s largest Independent TowerCo (with 48 per cent market share vs 41 per cent in 2020) in terms of operational sites, serving all Mobile Network Operators in Pakistan. As at September 30, 2021, Enfrashare held a portfolio size of 2,030 operational sites and 2,219 tenancies resulting in a tenancy ratio of 1.09x.

The telecom sector in Pakistan is registering an annual growth of 28 per cent with the 3G / 4G subscriber base expanding beyond 100 million. This has led Engro to enhance its total equity investment in the Telecom Infrastructure vertical to Rs 21.5 billion. Engro has also formed a dedicated platform for connectivity and telecom infrastructure related initiatives by the name of Engro Connect (Pvt.) Limited. Engro Connect is a wholly owned subsidiary of Engro and will hold complete ownership of Engro Enfrashare (Pvt.) Limited.

Energy & Power: Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company (“SECMC”) supplied around 3 million tons of coal to Engro Powergen Thar Limited (“EPTL”) during the period. SECMC’s expansion work to enhance its output to 7.6 million tons per annum is in progress. EPTL remained fully operational and achieved 84.7 per cent availability with a load factor of 82 per cent, dispatching 3,253 GwH to the national grid during the period.

Engro Powergen Qadirpur Limited (“EPQL”) operates on permeate gas and is currently facing gas curtailment from the Qadirpur gas field as it continues to deplete. To make up for this shortfall, EPQL’s plant has been made available on mixed mode. The plant dispatched a net electrical output of 615 GwH to the national grid with a load factor of 44 per cent compared to 32 per cent during the same period last year. EPQL posted a PAT of Rs 1,463 million for the current period as compared to Rs 2,031 million for 9M 2020, which is mainly attributable to retirement of debt component.

Terminals: Profitability of both the LNG and chemicals terminal remained healthy during the period. The chemicals terminal throughput volumes normalized to 934 KT versus 806 KT last year as volumes were impacted in 2020 due to lockdowns because of COVID-19. The LNG terminal handled 52 cargoes against 54 cargoes during same period last year, delivering 158 bcf re-gasified LNG in to the SSGC network.

With around two years of planning and efforts amidst COVID-19 volatility, Engro Elengy Terminal Limited (“EETL”) has successfully completed Pakistan’s first-ever dry docking activity at Qatar dockyard. During the dry docking period, FSRU Sequoia enabled gas supply continuity ensuring national energy security. After completion of its dry docking, FSRU Exquisite has now returned to Pakistan and is online.