Pakistan State Oil Q1 profit at 1.9 bln rupees

KARACHI, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Pakistan State Oil (PSO) (PSO.KA: Quote, Profile, Research) on Friday reported a first quarter net profit of 1.9 billion rupees ($22.8 million), which was lower than analysts' expectations.

The state-run oil marketing firm had reported a net loss of of 8.4 billion rupees in the first quarter of the 2008/09 (July-June) financial year.

PSO also announced an interim cash dividend of 3.0 rupees per share.

In a statement to the Karachi Stock Exchange, PSO said its net sales in the July-September quarter were at 169.3 billion rupees, compared with 189 billion rupees in the corresponding quarter last year.

However, operating expenses in the quarter fell to 2.50 billion rupees from 4.8 billion rupees in the year-ago period.

PSO shares were trading 2.17 lower at 313.50 rupees by 0657 GMT in a broader market .KSE which was up 0.36 percent. ($1=83.17 rupees) (Reporting by Faisal Aziz; Editing by Robert Birsel) (For more Reuters coverage of Afghanistan and Pakistan, see: here)