LAHORE - Fauji Cement Company Limited (FCCL) reported Profit after tax of Rs 377 million in FY12 compared with Rs 359 million in FY11. Though FCCL achieved a 3.7x YoY growth in gross profit, but 17.6x jump in financial charges and 2.6x higher preference dividend led to a modest YoY profitability growth.FCCL brought its 7,200 tpd capacity online during the period, which resulted in an 84 per cent YoY volumetric growth to 2 million tons. This was further supported by a 32 per cent YoY improvement in average retention price to Rs 289/bag; yielding a massive 143 per cent YoY growth in net revenues to Rs 11.5 billion in FY12. At start of FY12, FCCL has a LIBOR-based loan of $88m, comprising of 55 per cent of its total loan portfolio. This loan, on one hand, gives the company’s benefit of low interest rate (USD LIBOR + 0.8pc) but on the other hand causes hefty exchange losses if PKR depreciates against greenback. FCCL suffered heavy exchange losses of Rs 729m in FY12 as PKR lost around 10 per cent of its value during the year; causing finance cost to swell by 17.6x YoY to Rs 1.8 billion. It is believed that flat movement of PKR against the USD will benefit the company during the quarter, whereby absence of exchange loss will likely result in finance cost of Rs 306 million compared to Rs 618 million in 4QFY12.