Nishat Chunian Power Limited (KSE: NCPL) - a Nishat Group independent power producer - announced its financial performance in FY15 on the stock exchange yesterday, and along with stable earnings, the firms payout touched its historic high of around 85 percent.

Though the IPP registered a growth in the net profits for FY15, the firms revenues took a dip of over 18 percent year-on-year in the same period due to retreating crude oil prices; FY15 was marked with severe thrashing of crude oil prices that fell sharply by around 33 percent. And as a result, the decline in the top line can be attributed primarily to lower furnace oil prices and fuel savings.

However, operational factors remained the key earning boosters for NCPL. In FY15, the firms cost of sales remained weaker, declining by 23 percent year-on-year due to lower operation and maintenance cost against the earlier expectations of rising during the year.

Though the firms top line for 9MFY15 registered a decline of approximately 12 percent year-on-year, the bottom line depicted a timid increase of 16 percent year-on-year. The decline in the revenues can be attributed mainly to 24 percent year-on-year lower furnace oil price along with rupee appreciation against the greenback by around three to four percent year-on-year in the same period. This ended up improving NCPLs gross margins.

During the year, the IPP witnessed no significant increase in administrative expenses, depreciation of rupee, and improved load factors; the firms load factor was around 86-87 percent in 9MFY15 compared to 83-84 percent in 9MFY14. Besides this, around two percent year-on-year fall in finance cost helped the firm push its bottom line up.