ICI Pakistan Limited (PSX: ICI) has had more than a couple of goodies in its bag lately, keeping its shareholders excited, and its share price beating he benchmark index.
Earlier last year, ICI Pakistan announced its plan to set up a facility for manufacturing Japans Morinaga infant formula in the country. The company already has a management stake in the infant milk formula business under the name of NutriCo Pakistan Private Limited, which is importing, marketing and distributing selected Morinaga Milk Industry Company Limited products in Pakistan since 2014. Then in FY16, ICI further increased its stake by 10 percent in NutriCo Pakistan Private Limited, bringing the total participation of the company to 40 percent. And now in FY17, the company has announced the incorporation of joint venture company by ICI, Unibrands and Morinaga, with ICIs equity participation of 51 percent.
In an attempt to increase its pharmaceutical base, the firm has also completed it 100 percent acquisition of Cirin Pharmaceuticals (Private) Limited as a wholly owned subsidiary. And just recently, ICI has again shown interest to acquire assets of Wyeth Pakistan, a pharmaceutical company owned by US-based Pfizer Inc.
And last, but not the least, its improving financial performance has also kept investors hungry. The firm reported its 1HFY17 result on the stock exchange yesterday, the earnings per share (EPS) of the company clocked in at Rs16.11 for 1HFY17, up 28 percent compared to previous year.
The firms net turnover was higher by around nine percent year-on-year in 2QFY17 due to higher revenues across all business segments, according to the company. It further highlights in its note to the shareholders that 48 percent operating loss reduction in the polyester business along with 25 percent growth in chemical business led the growth in the recent quarter. Polyester business segment has long been a concern even amid declining raw material prices, and its turnaround is much celebrated as margins improved.
In 1HFY17, ICIs revenues grew by nine percent year-on-year as well. The polyester division and the life sciences division were behind the improvement in the revenues for the period, depicting a growth of 21 percent and 7 percent, respectively. However, the overall performance has been affected by the dip in the performance of soda ash segment.
The company also announced a n interim cash dividend of 80 percent or Rs8 per share, which according to the market was slightly less than the expectations, resulting it the share price closing flat at day end.
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