PCL yearly profit to jump 70%
Dual-listed conglomerate Press Corporation Limited (PCL) is expected to post a 70 percent rise in after-tax profit in the year ended December 2013, according to a trading update issued yesterday.
This is the same profit forecast the company gave in the year ended December 2012.
In 2012, the group listed on Malawi Stock Exchange (MSE) and London Stock Exchange (LSE) as a global depository receipt, posted a 55 percent rise in after-tax profit of K9.5 billion from K6.1 billion the year before, largely propelled by “exceptional results” in financial services, agro-industrial and energy whose earnings more than doubled.
The group’s company secretary Benard Ndau, however, said the information on which the trading update is based, has not yet been reviewed or reported on by PCL’s auditors.
“Press Corporation Limited’s financial statements for the period will be published in the press in April 2014 following review and approval by the board of directors at its next meeting,” he said.
In the half-year ended June 30 2013, PCL reported a K7.3 billion after-tax profit, a 244 percent increase from the previous year’s K2.1 billion, driven by 84 percent growth in earnings at one of its subsidiaries, National Bank of Malawi (NBM).
In terms of listing requirements of the MSE, a listed company is required to publish a trading statement if there is reasonable degree of certainty that the financial results for the period to be reported upon next will differ by at least 20 percent from the previous corresponding period.
PCL is one of the blue chips on the MSE and, as of yesterday, the group’s share price was trading at K285.
