Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim (FFBL) has announced its consolidated financial results for the fiscal year 2019.
The company has posted a massive loss of Rs. 8.37 billion in the year due to a surge in finance cost, higher effective tax rate with deferred tax adjustment and losses made by subsidiaries. It had posted a profit of Rs. 778.10 million last year, according to a company notice sent to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX).
The sales of the company were posted at Rs. 81.52 billion, up by 5.1% as compared with Rs. 77.55 billion recorded during FY 2018 due to a rise in urea/DAP prices during the year. The cost of sales increased by 9.2% to Rs. 69.13 billion which took the gross profit down to Rs. 12.38 billion, down by 12.9%.
Finance cost jumped by 90% to Rs. 9.90 billion from Rs. 5.21 billion recorded during the previous year. This was due to an increase in the interest rate and borrowing of the company. According to Topline Securities’ report, this was due to high-interest rates and higher borrowing requirements due to low cash profitability.
The food business of the company, Fauji Foods had posted a loss of Rs. 5.78 billion, with a gross loss of Rs. 678 million during the year.
Its tax expenses jumped 6.5 times or 675% to Rs 4.58 billion from Rs 590.6 million recorded in 2018. It has reported a loss per share of Rs. 6.82 versus earnings per share of Rs. 1.68 recorded last year.
At the time of filing this report, FFBL’s shares at the bourse were trading at Rs. 20.12, down by Rs. 0.73 or 3.50% with a turnover of 7.5 million shares on Wednesday.
