PTCL posts Rs9.354bn after tax loss in 1QFY13

RECORDER REPORT

KARACHI: Pakistan Teleco-mmunication Company Limited (PTCL) has posted Rs9.354 billion as after tax loss in the quarter ended September 30, 2012 as compared to after tax profit of Rs1.402 billion posted in the same quarter in 2011.

The Board of Directors of the company in its meeting held on Wednesday, declared that the company posted Rs1.83 as per share loss in the first quarter of FY13 against earning per share of Re0.28 in the same quarter last year. “This is primarily because the company booked one-off Voluntary Separate Scheme (VSS) costs worth Rs11 billion this quarter,” Furqan Ayub, an analyst at JS Global Capital said. “We believe that the entire one time costs have been booked in this quarter as the overall costs that the company had disclosed earlier was in the range of Rs8-10 billion,” he said and estimated that the recurring EPS excluding the VSS costs is approximately Re0.22 per share.

The company’s revenues grew by 8 percent to Rs15.7 billion, however cost of services rose by 12 percent to Rs12.2 billion, most likely on account of salary pressure. Moreover, selling and marketing expenses rose by 17 percent to Rs665 million on the back of investment in advertising. Other Operating Income (interest received from Ufone and investment in government securities) as expected, has dipped by 13 percent due to lower KIBOR.

“Our initial impression is that PTCL has not availed the tax benefit of the VSS costs,” Furqan said. “Hence, we believe it is likely that once the company reports profit, post the ICH implementation, it might register a lower tax rate,” he added.