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Gharibwal Cement (PSX: GWCL) kicked off the year with lukewarm growth under its belt starting off with a slower first quarter in terms of costs and margins, but 1HFY17 comes with better news. Dispatches in the first half of FY17 have grown by 4 percent year-on-year which translated to 13 percent growth in revenues. Sales clocked at Rs5.5 billion in 1HFY17 against Rs4.9 billion in 1HFY16. Costs were less pressured, which contributed to margins of 35 percent in 1HFY17margins were 34 percent in Q1 but improved to 36 percent in Q2.

Other income on loan to Balochistan Glass Limited is down by 79 percent, while indirect expenses are up. The company earned a profit after tax of Rs1.1 billiongrowing by 9 percent from 1HFY16. The company announced that the board of directors had approved an Interim cash dividend of Re1.5 per share for the year ending June 2017.

The company announced in its PSX notice that the 20MW of waste heat recovery system and the Conveyer Belt project were both under commissioning and expected to come into commercial production during Feb 2017.

It was also announced that a contract with CITIC China for the new plant had finalized. The new expanding would take capacity of its existing facilities from 2 million tons to 4.4 million tons which would take up its market share from 4.5 percent to around 7 percent which would place Gharibwal among second-tier cement companies.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2017

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