Karachi: Pakistan State Oil Company Limited (PSO) has reported a significant decline in its financial performance for the first quarter ending September 30, 2024, with profits experiencing a notable reduction compared to the same period last year. The Board of Management, during a meeting on October 25, 2024, decided not to declare any dividend for the quarter.

The company's condensed unconsolidated interim statement of profit or loss revealed a decrease in net sales to 787,588.69 million rupees, down from 920,081.39 million rupees in the same quarter of the previous year. This decline was primarily attributed to lower gross sales and increased costs, with gross sales falling to 853,506.861 million rupees from 976,154.56 million rupees.

According to information available from the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), the cost of products sold also saw a reduction to 761,850.015 million rupees from 861,631.647 million rupees, resulting in a gross profit of 25,738.675 million rupees, significantly lower than the 58,449.745 million rupees recorded last year.

The company's profit from operations stood at 21,878.935 million rupees, a considerable drop from the 52,704.259 million rupees reported in the same quarter of 2023. Finance costs increased slightly to 10,423.661 million rupees from 10,282.714 million rupees.

PSO's profit before taxation decreased to 8,190.527 million rupees compared to the previous year's 40,124.476 million rupees. After accounting for current and deferred taxation, the profit for the period amounted to 3,970.998 million rupees, a sharp decline from 21,888.191 million rupees in the same quarter last year. The earnings per share fell to 8.46 rupees from 46.62 rupees.

The condensed consolidated interim statement showed a similar trend, with net sales reducing to 827,219.869 million rupees from 965,204.055 million rupees. The profit for the period was reported at 1,855.344 million rupees, compared to 25,196.681 million rupees in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. The earnings per share decreased to 6.07 rupees from 51.10 rupees.

The financial report detailing these results will be made available through the Pakistan Unified Corporate Automated Reporting System (PUCARS) within the stipulated time.