Pakistan State Oil Company Ltd (PSO) has said that its unconsolidated loss for the first quarter of fiscal year 2023 (October-December 2022) is Rs4.56 billion, down from the same period last year’s profit after tax of Rs20.2 billion.
Resultantly, loss per share was recorded at Rs9.7 in 2QFY23 as compared to earnings per share (EPS) of Rs43.02 in SPLY.
The notice sent to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Friday states that PSO’s net sales for the three months ending December 31, 2022, increased to Rs843 billion from Rs522.749 billion for SPLY, or a 61.3% increase.
However, PSO’s gross profit in 2QFY23 decreased by 81.8% to Rs4.841 billion from Rs26.663 billion in the preceding year.
Market analysts believe that earnings are lower than expected “due to higher inventory losses during the quarter, estimated at ~Rs13.4 billion as refined fuel prices fell exorbitantly during the quarter, subsequently resulting in gross margins to end at 0.6% for the period.”
