PNSC 9MFY26 profit falls 50%

April 29, 2026 (MLN): Pakistan National Shipping Corporation (PSX: PNSC) reported a steep 51% decline in its consolidated net profit for the nine months ended March 31, 2026, falling to Rs7.51bn compared to Rs15.44bn in the corresponding period last year.

Reflecting this significant bottom-line contraction, the corporation's basic and diluted earnings per share (EPS) more than halved, dropping to Rs37.89 from Rs77.94 in 9MFY25.

The sharp decline in overall profitability heavily overshadowed an otherwise stellar performance in the company’s core shipping operations.

PNSC’s total revenue from contracts with customers and others posted a robust 29% year-on-year increase, reaching Rs36.56bn up from Rs28.40bn.

While fleet expenses also increased by 30% to Rs24.99bn in tandem with expanded operations, the strong top-line growth allowed the company to expand its core gross profit by 28%, settling at Rs11.46bn compared to Rs8.98bn in the prior year.

However, the financials were severely battered below the gross profit line by a combination of surging non-core expenses and plunging secondary income.

 "Other expenses" witnessed a staggering spike, skyrocketing to Rs4.58bn from just Rs414.13m last year. Concurrently, "other income" collapsed by 62%, falling to Rs4.09bn from a massive Rs10.78bn in 9MFY25.

While the company did book a positive impairment reversal of Rs110.71m on financial assets (a turnaround from last year's loss) and kept administrative expense growth contained to 8% (Rs1.62bn), these could not absorb the massive hit from other operating items. Consequently, the operating profit plunged by 47% to Rs9.45bn.

Further pressure mounted from debt servicing, as finance costs surged  to Rs991.37m. Dragged down by the collapsing secondary income and surging non-core costs, the profit before taxation fell by 52% to Rs8bn.

PNSC did find a buffer in a substantially lower taxation expense, which dropped 65% to Rs489.87m. Despite this tax relief, the heavy non-core operational drag finalized the nine-month period with the net profit shrinking by 51% to Rs7.51bn.

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