Listed firms' sales drop for second quarter.

KARACHI -- In yet another manifestation of the economic slowdown, sales by a majority of listed firms dropped for the second consecutive quarter in October-December.

Speaking to Dawn on Saturday, Arif Habib Ltd Head of Research Tahir Abbas said the combined revenue of the publicly traded companies went down 0.1 per cent to Rs2.59 trillion on a sequential basis in October-December - an unusual development given that top lines of large companies tend to expand amid high inflation.

'The decline in absolute sales numbers is mainly because of oil, which shrank in terms of both value and volume. Excluding that, quarterly revenues increased 3.3pc from the preceding three-month period.'

Mr Abbas pointed out that sales in volumetric terms have gone down in most sectors owing to the economic slowdown coupled with high inflation.

Combined revenue of publicly traded companies down 0.1pc to Rs2.59tr

'Cement, auto, steel and textile are some of the sectors that've seen a significant drop in volumetric sales,' he said, adding that this decline has been overshadowed by rising revenue numbers amid high inflation.

Another reason for the declining volumetric sales is the import curbs imposed by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to minimise the dollar outflow.

In particular, Mr Abbas referred to the auto sector, which has seen price increases of up to 75pc in a year or so while its volumetric sales have dropped to multi-year lows.

'The situation is reflective of two things: one, the...

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