Lucky Cement H1 profit rises

Lucky Cement Ltd posted an increase of 89.6 per cent in its half year net profit to Rs 275m compared to Rs 145m same period last year on the back of improved margins and higher sales. In a statement to the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) Pakistan, it said the company has also made a deferred tax payment of Rs133m. Most analysts said improvement in profit was mainly on back of overall improved margins for the cement sector companies and higher sales.
³Earnings for the entire sector have improved this year because of improved margins and there was no price war this year like the one we had seen last year,² said Abdul Rasheed, a cement sector analyst at Invest Capital and Securities, a local brokerage house. He said many companies including Lucky managed to improve operating profitability in line with higher margins and reduced cost of production.