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

Overview of Financial Performance

Engro delivered a strong operational performance in 1H 2021 as its consolidated revenue grew by 30 percent from Rs. 107.163 billion in 1H 2020 to Rs. 139.319 billion in 1H 2021.

The company recorded a consolidated Profit After Tax (PAT) of Rs. 29.111 billion, showing an increase of 87.60% as compared to Rs. 15.529 billion in the same period last year.

The profit attributable to the owners was Rs. 17.053 billion as compared to Rs. 9.059 billion in the previous period, resulting in Earnings per Share (EPS) of Rs. 29.60 as compared to Rs. 15.73.

The overall growth in the bottom line is primarily attributable to the increased profits posted by Engro Fertilizers and Engro Polymer & Chemicals.

On a standalone basis, the company posted a profit of Rs. 9.683 billion, up by 100% against Rs. 4.858 billion for the same period last year, translating into an EPS of Rs. 16.81 per share. It announced an interim cash dividend of Rs. 7 per share for the second quarter.

Financial Performance – Segmental Perspective

Fertilizers: The country has had a robust agronomic demand in 1H 2021, enabled by favorable farm economics, better farm output prices, and enhanced support pricing. Engro Fertilizers (EFert) produced 1,070 KT of urea as compared to 1,136 KT in the comparative period. The slight decrease in production was on account of a planned turnaround in one of the Plants in Q1.

EFert recorded half-yearly urea sales of 1,115 KT against 847 KT, and phosphate sales of 105 KT against 119 KT during the same period last year. Consequently, the profit for EFert stood at Rs. 10.509 billion for 1H 2021 as compared to Rs. 4.457 billion in the same period last year.

Petrochemicals: The first half of the year had substantially higher international PVC prices that rose to an unprecedented level of USD 1,670/T in Q1 2021 due to global supply limitations and increased freight costs. Subsequently, the price fell to USD 1,345/T in Q2 and was still significantly higher than the historical price levels.

Engro Polymer and Chemicals Limited (EPCL) announced the commercial operations of the new PVC Plant on 1 March 2021, increasing the capacity to 295,000 MT per annum; and the commercial operations of the new 50 KT VCM de-bottlenecking capacity on 25 June 2021, thus increasing its capacity to 245,000 MT per annum.

The EPCL recorded a revenue of Rs. 30.496 billion in 1H 2021 as compared to Rs. 12.874 billion during the same period last year. It attained its highest-ever six-month profit on account of increased volumetric sales, efficient operations, and higher international prices; and Engro Polymer posted a profit of Rs. 7.265 billion as compared to a PAT of Rs. 223 million for the same period last year.

Connectivity: Engro continued to expand its footprint in the Connectivity vertical through Engro Enfrashare, which has become Pakistan’s largest Independent Tower Company (with 46 percent of the market share) in terms of operational sites, serving all the Mobile Network Operators in Pakistan.

By June 2021, Enfrashare held a portfolio size of 1,817 operational sites and 1,963 tenancies, translating into a tenancy ratio of 1.08x, with a market share of 46 percent — an increase of five percent from a 41 percent share maintained in 2020.

Energy & Power: The Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company (SECMC) supplied two million tons of coal to Engro Powergen Thar (EPTL) during the first half of the year. EPTL remained fully operational and achieved 81 percent availability with a load factor of 78 percent and a dispatch of 2,052 GwH to the national grid during the first half of the year. The SECMC’s expansion work to enhance its output to 7.6 million tons per annum is underway.

Engro Powergen Qadirpur Limited (EPQL) operates on permeate gas and is undergoing gas curtailment from the Qadirpur gas field as it continues to deplete the gas. To make up for this shortfall, EPQL’s Plant has been made available on mixed mode. The plant dispatched a net electrical output of 394 GwH to the national grid, with a load factor of 43 percent as compared to 28.4 percent during a similar period last year. The business posted a profit of Rs. 905 million for the current period as compared to Rs. 1.310 billion for Q1 2020 that is mainly attributable to the retirement of the debt component.

Terminals: Engro’s Terminal businesses recorded healthy profits in the first half of the year. The LNG terminal handled 35 cargoes, delivering 106 billion cubic feet (bcf) re-gasified LNG to the SSGC network. Moreover, the terminal also successfully completed the berthing and startup of FSRU Sequoia to manage Pakistan’s first-ever dry-docking activity. The advent of Sequoia has ensured gas availability for the country while the dry-docking of FSRU Exquisite continues at the Qatar dockyard.

The chemicals Terminal had an actual throughput of 638 KT against 583 KT during the same period last year. The increase was primarily observed in chemical volumes, offset by lower LPG handling.

Source: Pro Pakistani