Lucky Cement earnings may increase up to six per cent
The earnings of Lucky Cement Limited are expected to increase by three to six per cent to Rs 1, 997m to Rs 2,052m for the fiscal year ended on June 30, analysts said.
"The company is scheduled to announce its full year results on Tuesday and we expect the company to announce a profit after tax of Rs 2,052m (EPS Rs 7.80) for the 2007 financial year, six per cent higher over the profit of Rs 1,936 (EPS Rs 7.35) in 2006 financial year, Muhammad Rehan Khan, an analyst at First Capital Equities Limited, said.
Hettish Karmani at Atlas Capital Markets was of the view that the company’s income is expected to increase by three percent to Rs 1997 million (EPS Rs 7.58) for 2007 financial year as against Rs 1936 million (EPS Rs 7.35) in 2006 financial year.
"On the back of a 71 percent growth in local dispatches and 255 percent increase in export numbers along with clinker sales, the overall revenue of the company is expected to increase by 52 percent. However, an expected increase of 76 percent in the cost of sales and 278 percent increase in financial and other charges are to result in a mediocre growth of three percent in net income of the company", he added.
The company declared a dividend of rupee one per share last year and the same is expected to be announced this year too, Hettish said. The company is planning to further expand its production capacity by adding two new lines of 4,200tpd each at its existing plant site in Karachi. On completion, the production capacity of the company is expected to be nine million tons per annum with market share on production capacity basis also enhancing to 19 percent.
The management is aggressively targeting the completion of the new expansion by the mid of 2009 financial year. Though the management has not yet revealed the expansion cost and financing plan of the project, but indicated that the GDR issue would be the major source of financing.
The board of the company has also approved the fund-raising for the project through international equity offering, which is subject to the approval by the shareholders of the company, SECP and SBP. Published under Cement News
