SLGL profit surges 25% to Rs546m in 2HFY26

August 12, 2026 (MLN): Secure Logistics-Trax Group Limited (PSX: SLGL) recorded a 25% increase in its net profit for the six months ended June 30, 2026, with profit after tax for the period climbing to Rs546.47m from Rs438.59m in the corresponding period last year.

Showing this healthy bottom-line growth, the company's earnings per share (EPS) expanded to Rs1.30 from Rs1.55 in 1HFY25 on a fully diluted basis.

The top-line showed steady growth, with net revenue rising 6% year-on-year to Rs1.54bn from Rs1.46bn in the prior period, driven by volume growth across all six of the company's revenue-generating business lines.

However, cost of services surged 50% to Rs982.68m from Rs654.77m, significantly outpacing revenue growth and causing gross profit to contract by 30% to Rs558.17m from Rs802.09m showing inflationary pressures on direct costs, particularly from fuel price increases that impacted the e-commerce last-mile and long-haul logistics segments.

The company noted that it regularly invoked Fuel Adjustment Factor clauses incorporated in all client contracts, keeping the overall net impact of fuel price increases manageable.

Administrative expenses, however, were trimmed by 21% to Rs433.85m from Rs549.96m, providing meaningful relief and partially cushioning the gross profit decline. Operating profit still fell 51% to Rs124.33m from Rs252.13m.

Below the operating line, finance costs rose marginally by 2% to Rs40.45m. Expected credit losses swung to a charge of Rs1.23m from a reversal of Rs1.70m last year. Other income declined 17% to Rs183.31m from Rs220.48m.

These combined movements pulled profit before levies and tax down 39% to Rs265.95m from Rs434.47m.

The levy charge surged to Rs19.93m from just Rs1.29m in the prior period a fifteenfold increase bringing profit after levies but before tax down 43% to Rs246.03m from Rs433.17m.

The decisive catalyst that transformed this pre-tax decline into a 25% bottom-line gain was an extraordinary swing in the taxation line.

Against a tax charge of Rs5.42m in 1HFY25, the company recorded a net tax credit of Rs300.44m in the current period a development that more than absorbed the pre-tax shortfall and delivered the strong profit outcome.

On the operational front, the company continued to expand its geographic footprint, with e-commerce coverage set to reach 1,637 locations by year-end from the current 1,504.

The warehousing business line is also scaling up, with expanded facilities in Karachi already operational and new warehouses in Lahore and Islamabad due for completion later this year.

The company's digital lending initiative under its NBFC licence is gaining momentum, with plans to deploy up to Rs500m by year-end, while induction of up to 100 EV commercial vehicles and 1,000 EVG motorcycles is expected to generate gross fuel savings of up to Rs200m.

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