Shell Packs Up

Shell Packs Up – It came as quite a shock when it was reported that Shell Pakistan was in the process of packing up its business in Pakistan. A petroleum giant with a global presence announced that it is selling its shareholding the business citing no cogent reason though it is quite clear that the prevailing economic downturn has plenty to do with this decision. Shell Petroleum Company (SPCo), the immediate parent company, owns 77 per cent of the local operations that suffered losses in 2022 due to exchange rates, devaluation of the Pakistani rupee and overdue receivables. It remains unclear how much of its stake SPCo is selling but the company mentioned that it is seeing strong interest from international buyers. In March, SPL reported that its net loss for the year ending on 31 December, 2022 remained Rs.72.3 million versus a profit of Rs.4.4 billion in 2021. The drop in the bottom line was in contrast with the company’s sales which rose 48.2 per cent year-on-year to Rs.418.6 billion in 2022. Interestingly the company increased its presence in Pakistan by commissioning 31 retail stations, 28 Generation-5 Select outlets and 25 new car wash facilities with tyre care but there was no final cash dividend for the share holders. The Weekender