During the first quarter of 2023 (January-March), Lucky Cement reported a profit-after-tax of Rs30.21 billion, representing an increase of more than 222% compared to Rs9.38 billion in the same period last year. The Board of Directors conducted a meeting on Friday to review the company’s financial performance, and they announced a zero dividend for the period. Consequently, Lucky Cement’s Earnings per Share (EPS) rose to Rs66.47 compared to Rs23.41 in the previous year’s corresponding period. Although Lucky Cement’s net revenue rose by nearly 8% to Rs100.45 billion from Rs93.19 billion recorded in the previous year, the cost of sales dropped to Rs74.5 billion in 1Q23 from Rs78.7 billion the previous year, resulting in a gross profit of Rs25.93 billion, an increase of over 79% compared to Rs14.46 billion.
However, Lucky Cement’s cost of finance increased by almost 527%, from Rs1.26 billion to Rs7.9 billion, which can be attributed to the company’s increased financial costs. Nevertheless, Lucky Cement’s other income surged over 62% to Rs2.58 billion from Rs975.8 million in the same period last year. Additionally, the company gained Rs2.33 billion in share of profit from other ventures and Rs8.91 billion and Rs8.23 billion on the partial disposal of NutriCo Morinaga Pvt Ltd and remeasurement of interest retained in NutriCo Morinaga, respectively. Consequently, the company’s profit before taxation for 1Q23 rose to Rs33.99 billion from Rs11.18 billion last year.
Lucky Cement has unveiled several projects throughout the fiscal year, including the start of operations of Line-2 at the Pezu Plant. This addition has boosted Lucky Cement’s cement production capacity by 3.15 Million Tons Per Annum (MTPA), bringing the total capacity to 15.30 MTPA. Furthermore, the company achieved the start of operations of a 34MW solar power project at the Pezu Plant on December 29, 2022.