Titas Gas Transmission & Distribution Company's profit jumped around 29 per cent year-on-year for Q2 of the FY23 ended in December last year, driven mainly by interest income and gas price hike.
It earned 16.6 per cent higher to Tk 674.89 million in interest income during the time than its income in the same quarter a year ago.
At the same time, gas sales revenue jumped 9 per cent to Tk 94.39 billion for July-December, FY23, compared with the same period of the previous fiscal year.
Asif Khan, chairman at Edge Asset Management, said the interest income had contributed more than 50 per cent in the net profit gained for the second quarter through December 2022.
The significant rise in interest income indicates that the company has a tendency to secure interest income instead of distributing a good amount in cash dividend to shareholders.
The company provided 10 per cent cash dividend for FY22; 22 per cent for FY21; 26 per cent for FY20, and 26 per cent for FY19.
Echoing Khan, Md Moniruzzaman, managing director of IDLC Investments, said the recent rise in FDR rate had helped boost the company's interest income.
Titas also reaped benefit from the 22.78 percent gas price hike in June last year, leading to a significant recovery in the operating profit from the first quarter ended in September last year, insiders say.
The company secured Tk 543.6 million in operating profit in Q2, FY23, which was in the negative in Q1.
With the gas price increased, the cost of using a single burner is Tk 65 more to Tk 990 and a double-burner Tk 105 more to Tk 1,080.
Titas reported the operating loss in Q1, FY23 in its first time since the listing on the bourses in 2008 after the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BSEC) had brought the distribution charge down to Tk 0.13 from Tk 0.25 per cubic meter.
The increased gas price seems to have helped the company recover from the loss.
Titas's EPS (earnings per share) rose to Tk 0.93 for the second quarter of the FY23 from Tk 0.73 of the same quarter of the FY22.
For the six months through December last year, the EPS declined 12.50 per cent year-on-year to Tk 1.26.
In a disclosure, Titas said the reduced distribution charge and its contribution to pension fund were the reasons behind the fall in earnings in July-Dec 2022.
During the same period, the operating cash flow per share grew at 46 per cent to Tk 6.19 over the previous year.
The significant change, according to a disclosure, in the NOCFPS is basically due to a higher collection from gas sales, the company said in a disclosure.
The official concerned of Titas could not be reached by phone for comments.
The company's share price declined 7 per cent since September 4 last year and came down to the floor price of Tk 40.90 in the second week of October 2022.
The stock remained unmoved after the latest financial disclosure on Thursday.
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