Petrolina cuts dividend on lower profit

Petrolina Holdings Pcl (PHL), the fuel and lubricant distributor with its own network of petrol stations announced a sharply reduced interim dividend for 2006 as its first half profits came under pressure.

PHL declared a 1.0 cent interim dividend to all registered shareholders as at September 14, down sharply from 2.5 cent in 2005. The ex-dividend dates are September 12-13 while the payment date is October 3, 2006 according to a company announcement.

For 2005, Petrolina paid an interim of 2.5 cent and a final dividend of 1.2 cent for a total dividend of 3.7 cent per share for a 10% yield. Now, the yield on the interim dividend is 2.7% on the current 37 cent per share quote on the CSE, according to Financial Mirror calculations.

Lower profit

Petrolina reported a sharp jump in turnover during the first half to CYP 80.34 mln from CYP 66.5 mln a year ago, but its gross profit fell to CYP 7.5 mln from CYP 8.3 mln with its gross profit to sales margin declining to 9.4% in the first half of 2006 from 12.5% a year ago.

Operating profit was down at CYP 2.7 mln from CYP 3.14 mln and despite a positive contribution of CYP 129k from associates/subsidiary profit compared to a loss of CYP 171k a year ago, the overall results showed a negative deterioration at a time when petrol prices are at record level.

Net profit attributable to shareholders fell to CYP 1.964.116 for first half of 2006 from CYP 2.095.895 a year ago in the same period and CYP 5.39 mln for the whole of 2005. EPS were 2.24 cent from 2.40 cent, while book value, as calculated by the Financial Mirror was 41.09 cent compared to CSE levels of 37 cent.