The Oil and Gas Development Company has announced first interim cash dividend of PKR 1.50 per share or 15% as the company’s net profit surged to PKR 21.915 billion for the quarter ended on September 30th 2011 against PKR 16.709 billion during the corresponding period last year.

The company’s earning per share surged to PKR 5.10 during the quarter primarily due to higher realized prices of crude oil, gas and LPG against PKR 3.89 last year.

The net sales revenue of the company stood at PKR 44.686 billion against PKR 39.451 billion last year. Other income also surged to PKR 2.303 billion from PKR 606.786 million last year while the exploration and prospecting expenditure declined to PKR 665.278 million which was PKR 2.531 billion during the same quarter last year. The net share of profit in associates declined to PKR 16.643 million against PKR 20.122 million last year.

The cash flows also improved as the company generated a net of PKR 15.322 billion from operating activities during the quarter, resultantly the capital expenditure increased to PKR 3.866 billion against PKR 2.991 billion in the same quarter last year. The company added a net of PKR 3.013 billion in cash and cash equivalents during the quarter to PKR 55.154 billion.

Mr MD & CEO of OGDCL Basharat A Mirza said that “It gives me great pleasure to report another profitable period for the company. The period under review was characterized by a robust 13.3% growth in sales revenue along with a substantial improvement in the profit after taxation of 31.2%.”

He said that “Based on the solid financial performance we anticipate the company’s overall performance to be in line with our expectations during the current financial year. We are also mindful of the fact that along with steady volume growth we must keep our operating costs under check and in control to maximize profitability.”

(Sourced from www.thenews.com.pk)