{"id":9148,"date":"2025-05-22T15:15:57","date_gmt":"2025-05-22T10:15:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ksestocks.com\/blog\/?p=9148"},"modified":"2025-05-22T15:16:16","modified_gmt":"2025-05-22T10:16:16","slug":"is-mlcf-rally-over-one-analyst-thinks-so","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ksestocks.com\/blog\/is-mlcf-rally-over-one-analyst-thinks-so\/","title":{"rendered":"Is MLCF rally over? One analyst thinks so"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Key takeaways:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>EPS jumps 86% YoY <\/strong>to Rs. 2.67, beating market estimates<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Revenue rises 4% YoY to Rs. 16.6 billion, driven by higher sales volumes and product mix<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Gross margins expand to 35.5%<\/strong>, supported by higher cement prices and lower coal costs<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Finance costs and taxation charges decline significantly, boosting net profitability<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Maple Leaf Cement Factory Ltd. (<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/ksestocks.com\/blog\/tag\/mlcf\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"MLCF\">MLCF<\/a><\/strong>) announced impressive consolidated earnings for 3QFY25, posting a <strong>net profit of Rs. 2.79 billion (EPS: Rs. 2.67)<\/strong>, marking an <strong>86% increase compared to the same quarter last year<\/strong>. These results came ahead of expectations, thanks to <strong>strong revenue growth<\/strong> and a <strong>more favorable tax environment<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Revenue growth and product mix drive performance<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The company\u2019s net sales grew <strong>4% YoY to Rs. 16.63 billion<\/strong>, supported by a <strong>5% increase in offtakes<\/strong>. The revenue beat estimates primarily due to stronger-than-anticipated sales of \u2018hdPutty\u2019, a key product in their portfolio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Margins expand on price gains and lower input costs<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>MLCF&#8217;s <strong>gross profit rose 23% YoY to Rs. 5.9 billion<\/strong>, translating to an improved <strong>gross margin of 35.5%<\/strong>, up 5.6 percentage points from 29.9% last year. This was largely driven by <strong>higher cement prices<\/strong> and <strong>lower coal costs<\/strong>, which helped offset rising input costs elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Cost efficiencies lift operating profits<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Distribution and selling expenses<\/strong> dropped sharply by <strong>41% YoY to Rs. 770 million<\/strong>, mainly due to reduced branding and promotional activities.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Administrative expenses<\/strong> increased by 17% YoY, reflecting business expansion activities.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Other income<\/strong> declined 51% YoY to Rs. 127 million, mainly impacted by lower interest rates.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Finance costs<\/strong> were slashed by 44% YoY to Rs. 464 million, supported by lower borrowing rates and a 6% reduction in total outstanding debt.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Taxation benefits amplify bottom line<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>A key driver of the earnings beat was a <strong>lower effective tax rate of 25%<\/strong>, down from 35% in 3QFY24, resulting in a tax charge of Rs. 940 million. This reduction supported the robust <strong>86% YoY growth in net profits<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Nine-month performance and outlook<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Cumulatively, Maple Leaf Cement\u2019s earnings for 9MFY25 rose by <strong>46% YoY to Rs. 7.9 billion (EPS: Rs. 7.51)<\/strong>, compared to Rs. 5.4 billion in the same period last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite the strong rally of 77% in the stock price year-to-date, AKD Securities has maintained a <strong>\u2018Neutral\u2019 rating<\/strong> on MLCF, with a <strong>target price of Rs. 71\/sh for December 2025<\/strong>, implying a modest <strong>5% upside potential<\/strong> from current levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: AKD Securities Limited<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Maple Leaf Cement Factory Ltd. (MLCF) announced impressive consolidated earnings for 3QFY25, posting a net profit of Rs. 2.79 billion (EPS: Rs. 2.67), marking an 86% increase compared to the same quarter last year. These results came ahead of expectations, thanks to strong revenue growth and a more favorable tax environment <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9252,"featured_media":6916,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[154,138],"tags":[93],"class_list":["post-9148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-analysis","category-financials","tag-mlcf"],"featured_image_src":{"landsacpe":["https:\/\/ksestocks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/MLCF-STOCK-PSX-1140x445.png",1140,445,true],"list":["https:\/\/ksestocks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/MLCF-STOCK-PSX-463x348.png",463,348,true],"medium":["https:\/\/ksestocks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/MLCF-STOCK-PSX-300x188.png",300,188,true],"full":["https:\/\/ksestocks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/MLCF-STOCK-PSX.png",1920,1200,false]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ksestocks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ksestocks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ksestocks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ksestocks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9252"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ksestocks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9148"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ksestocks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9148\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9328,"href":"https:\/\/ksestocks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9148\/revisions\/9328"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ksestocks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ksestocks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ksestocks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ksestocks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}