Premier Cement’s profit soared 28.38 times in the second quarter of FY24 as revenue jumped 29 per cent and manufacturing cost came down significantly.
The earnings per share stood at Tk 2.09 for the period, up from Tk .07 a year ago.
The earnings disclosure on Sunday drove the stock price up 5 per cent to Tk 57.20 per share on the Dhaka Stock Exchange. The market, however, lost 77 points to 6079.
Company secretary Kazi Md. Shafiqur Rahman told the FE that the profit shot up due to a significant boost to the sales. "Besides, our selling price was up 4.8 per cent and raw material price was down 18 per cent."
However, forex loss increased 9 per cent and bank finance cost 3 per cent.
"Otherwise, our profit might have been higher."
In the October-December quarter of FY24, the revenue of Premier Cement rose to Tk 6.6 billion. Production cost fell to 83 per cent of the revenue in the second quarter of FY24 from 90 per cent in the same quarter a year ago.
On the other hand, selling and administrative expenses went up to 4.7 percent of the sales revenue in Q2, FY24 from 3.09 per cent in Q2 FY23.
In July-December 2023, the cement maker's profit rose to Tk 277 million against a loss of 259 million in the same period of the previous year.
Premier Cement is a regular dividend payer; it showed a net loss of Tk 842 million in FY23 and Tk 1.13 billion in FY22 but paid 10 per cent cash dividends for both the years.
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