KARACHI: Philip Morris (Pakistan) Limited on Thursday declared a profit of Rs1.76 billion for the year ended December 31, 2020 as against loss of Rs1.96 billion in the preceding year.
A statement said that the company recorded profit after tax of Rs1.765 billion for the year ended December 31, 2020 compared to loss after tax of Rs1.980 billion for the year ended 2019.
The increase in operating profit before tax compared to last year is mainly due to significant decrease in ‘other expenses’ by Rs2.732 billion. This decrease in other expenses is primarily attributable to one-off impairment and employee separation cost charged on account of closure of our factory in Kotri during 2019.
During the year ended, the Company’s volume declined by 20 percent mainly reflecting the pressure faced by the legally compliant tax paying cigarette sector from the expanding illicit one, which now accounts for approximate 37 percent of the total market for the year 2020 versus 33.1 percent for the year 2019 (Retail Audit).
The Company’s contribution to the National Exchequer, for the year ended December 31, 2020, in the form of excise duty, sales tax and other government levies, stood at Rs22.110 billion, a decrease of 6 percent, compared to the preceding year.
This is mainly attributable to the excessive excise duty increases of 93 percent (Value Tier) during Federal Budgets of September 2018 and June 2019 that stretched the price gap between duty evaded and duty paid cigarettes which are selling at lower prices than the minimum price prescribed under tax regime with respect to levy and collection of federal excise duty i.e. Rs63/ per pack.
In March 2020, the government issued a Statutory Regulatory Order No. 72(I)/2020 further restricting advertising, promotion and sponsorship of tobacco and tobacco products leading to a lack of a level playing field for law abiding corporates.
During the period ended December 31, 2020 the Company’s domestic net turnover stood at Rs13.983 billion resulting in an increase of 7 percent driven by the excise led price increase in June 2019 coupled with price increase in February 2020, both were essential to offset the adverse impact of severe volume decline of 20 percent versus 2019.
During the same time, the Company’s exports turnover stood at Rs2.613 billion (US$ 16.3 million) showing a significant increase as compared to last year shows the Company’s commitment to support Pakistan’s goals of increasing exports and earn foreign exchange for the Country.
