PPL 1HFY17

The sluggish performance of the upstream oil and gas industry has been a global phenomenon due to the extended impact of the oil price downturn.  The country’s one of the largest E&P firms - Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PSX: PPL) has also felt the jitters; its latest annual financial performance (for FY16) was bogged down by lower oil prices like other players in the sector.

However, in its latest six-month performance announced on the bourses, the oil and gas company has been able to keep it together, posting an almost no change in year-on-year earnings i.e. no decline. This could be taken pleasantly as the firm’s topline continued to recede, going down by around three percent in 1HFY17.

PPL faced a clench the revenues in 1QFY17 due to lower prices despite rising production volumes. In 2QFY17, the E&P firm was able to post revenue growth of around two percent, which was a much needed boost to the bottomline. Market was however expecting increase in revenues for 1HFY17 due to the firm’s aggressive production activities.

On the other hand, higher field expenditure particularly in 2QFY17, and lower other income due to declining short term investment played their role in restricting the bottomline,

PPL has been an aggressive exploration and production firm; it continued its endeavours in FY16, and now in FY17. However, the boost to the bottomline will come from a turnaround in crude oil prices, which the market expects to see in 2HFY17. On the positive side, PPL has a few goodies in its bag to benefit from, going forward. Revision of Sui’s pricing formula is one of them, which will likely to raise gas price in FY18. The company announced higher dividends this time around; it announced Rs3 per ordinary share in addition to an Rs3 per share convertible preference share dividend.