Corporate earnings rise despite economic headwinds

Notwithstanding the nearly flat economic growth expected for 2022-23 amid record-high inflation, after-tax income reported by the representative firms of the country’s corporate sector remained at Rs877.6 billion in the first nine months of the current fiscal year, up 8.8 per cent from a year ago. According to data compiled by Arif Habib Ltd, combined earnings rose 12.7pc year-on-year in the latest quarter (January-March) to Rs353bn. The overall increase in net income from the preceding three-month period was 30.3pc. The analysis is based on the corporate results of 89 of the top 100 listed companies representing 93.1pc of the stock market’s capitalisation. “Barring the impact of super tax, growth could have been higher since profit-before-tax jumped 19.6pc year-on-year in January-March and 15.7pc year-on-year in July-March,” it said.