KARACHI (February 27 2004): Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) has earned a net profit of Rs 13.28 billion during the first half of the fiscal year, surprising all the analysts.
The half-yearly accounts of the PTCL were approved by the board of directors of the company in a meeting held on Thursday.
The board particularly appreciated the PTCL efforts towards introduction of new value added services, which resulted in excellent financial results for the period.
The company's profit after tax increased remarkably by 34.1 percent or Rs 3.38 billion during the first half of financial year 2003-04 to Rs 13.28 billion from Rs 9.90 billion of similar period of last year.
Similarly, the net profit margin improved to 35.8 percent as compared with 30.1 percent, an increase of 5.7 percent.
As a result of increase in profitability, the earning per share increased to Rs 2.60 from Rs 1.94 of first half of FY 2002-03.
The total revenue for the period ending 31 December 2003 stood at Rs 37.10 billion as compared to Rs 32.92 billion, an increase of 4.18 billion, or 12.7 percent.
The contribution of domestic revenue of Rs 27.56 billion to the total revenue was 74.3 percent with the international revenue of Rs 9.53 billion or 25.7 percent.
In spite of reduction in installation, line rent, international outgoing and NWD call charges, the domestic revenue showed a solid growth of 12.6 percent.
This growth was mainly attributable to a healthy net increase of 27.1 percent in working connections besides other factors like growth in domestic leased circuits, value-added services, interconnect business and traffic increase due to price reduction.
The expansion in cellular and IT industries has also had a positive impact on PTCL revenue.
Like domestic revenue, the international revenue also registered a healthy increase of 12.9 percent in spite of reduction in international settlement rates.
The turnover from international operations improved through traffic volumes growth of 34.1 percent achieved by increase in international circuits and routing efficiency.
The improvement is visible through 11.9 percent growth in the dollar-denominated revenues of the company.
This is also because of the continued confidence of our international partners doing international business with the PTCL.
The operating expenses of the company decreased to Rs 16.50 billion as compared to Rs 17.32 billion of fist half of last year.
The decrease of 4.7 percent in operating expenses was mainly due to reduction in employees' retirement cost and depreciation expenses besides better control on trade debts.<br>
The profit before taxation was Rs 20.67 billion during the first half of Financial Year 2003-04, which is 33.7 percent higher as compared to the corresponding period of last year.
The company's cash flow remained strong.
