KARACHI: Amreli Steels Limited earned Rs516 million with EPS of Rs1.74 in the July-December period compared to Rs524 million with EPS of Rs1.77 in the corresponding period a year earlier.

The company didn’t announce any cash dividend for the half year ended December 31.[the_ad id=”32940″] Amreli Steels said the operating and net profit declined as a result of slowdown of the economy in general and construction industry in particular.

“The demand of rebars remained stagnant across the country which didn’t allow the company to pass through the ever rising cost of goods being manufactured and sold,” it added in the financials. “The costs of goods manufactured and sold increased primarily due to massive rupee devaluation, increase in costs of imported scraps and also increase in cost of energy.”

The steelmaker’s net sales, however, significantly surged 97.4 percent year-on-year to Rs12.3 billion in the first half as sales volume grew 60 percent.