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Say bonjour to enhanced French-Pak economic ties Page 02 profit.com.pk
Friday, 06 April, 2012
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Let the budget dogfight begin… Market g
10 committees comprising business persons formed to make recommendations for upcoming budget ISLAMABAD
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STAFF REPORT
HE government on thursday constituted ten committees comprising of leading business persons and officials to make suggestions for solving energy crisis, promoting regional trade, protection for iPRs, much needed financial sector reforms and tariff rationalization and addressing various tax related issues in the upcoming budget for the next fiscal year. Finance Minister Dr. abdul Hafeez shaikh chaired a meeting of the Business Persons Council. the meeting reviewed the current state of economy, the role of the private sector and enhancement of economic reforms in the country. the council decided to form 10 committees to give recommendations on their respective areas and to present precise report within two weeks. the first committee including secretary Economic affairs Division will work on broadening of tax base. second committee including Governor state Bank of Pakistan will work on financial sector reforms. third committee including Deputy Chairmen Planning Commission will work on tariff rationalization. Fourth committee including secretary Commerce will work on regional trade. Fifth committee including secretary industries will work on incentives for investment. sixth committee including secretary Finance will work on expenditure management. seventh committee including secretary investment will work on intellectual property rights. Eighth committee including Chairman FBR will work on refund acceleration of taxes and other FBR related issues. the ninth committee also including Chairman FBR will work on tax relief package for Fata and Balochistan. While the tenth committee including secretary Water and Power, secretary Petroleum and Deputy Chairmen Planning Commission from will work on energy crisis. Business persons highlighted their concerns and gave proposals for the coming budget. the discussion circled around
Give power generation the biggest share of the budget pie: PIAF LAHORE STAFF REPORT
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akistan industrial & traders association Front (PiaF) has called for allocation of maximum funds in the upcoming budget to overcome shortage of electricity. in its budget proposals, the PiaF Chairman Engr. sohail Lashari said that the country’s economic revival is only possible if the government takes private sector on board in budget-making exercise. He said that energy is the only sector that has taken the entire trade and economy hostage therefore the budget should be focused on energy-related projects. the PiaF chairman also urged the government to give special package to all the industrial estates in the country so that He could be able to establish their own power houses. He said that the government would have to allocate funds for revival of public sector enterprises (PsEs) that are presently eating up much of the budgeted money. the increase the exports, the PiaF leaders proposed cut in duties on raw materials for export-oriented industry while the appointment of commercial attaches in foreign countries should be linked to promotion of Pakistani merchandise in global market. He said that high markup needs to be brought down to single digit as it would increase industrial productivity on the one hand while help increase local investment in the country. the banking spread that has crossed the figure of seven per cent should also be narrowed down in the larger interests of trade and industry. as the country at the moment is facing a number of external and internal pressures, the PiaF leaders reasons for reducing external financing, FBR related issues especially concerns over sRO-191, energy and gas crisis impact on industrial sector, import and export related matters, tariff and interest rate and intellectual property rights issues. On a question regarding increasing debt burden, secretary EaD clarified that debt could never be seen in nominal way. Debt is dealt in the context of GDP. the perception of increasing debt burden was not true, as rather ratio of debt to GDP has decreased. the minister informed the council about the overall economic performance, estimating growth rate of 3.8 percent, which would be highest in last three years despite many challenges. He
suggested to the government to curtail all non-productive expenditures to the minimum level so that the funds could be utilized for the betterment of people. He said that the government should also announce austerity drive in the budget and all government functionaries entitled to use official vehicles should be directed to use small vehicles and their fuel consumption limit should also be fixed. as this would help save precious foreign exchange. Over law and order situation, the PiaF leaders said that there is a dire need to allocate special funds to strengthen intelligence network in the country as the previous happenings have proved that police alone can not handle any untoward incident. the PiaF Chairman also urged the government to evolve both shortterm and long term policies to overcome the shortage of electricity. in this regard, he local businessmen could be asked to make investment in power sector jointly or individually. as a large number of industrial units have stopped their operations while many are on the way to closure. He said that uninterrupted supply of electricity to the industry would not only increase industrial production but it would also arrest the fast galloping unemployment graph. He said that the government should also announce work on kalabagh Dam which had been politicized for nothing as it would not only expedite economic activity but would also ensure cheapest electricity on completion. the PiaF Chairman said that there is a dire need to promote research culture in the country as despite having all the resources the country is lagging far behind in every sector only because on non-availability of required information.
said difficult decision taken in tax reform enabled to achieve 25 percent increase in tax revenue. Massive funds were distributed among the poor through Benazir income support Program. the budget for Balochistan was doubled. talking about the challenges, he said the government faced inherited a complex energy crisis and reduction in external financing. He said that the country was in transition phase with new public financing arrangements between center and provinces. the matter of tax refund was also discussed. Finance Minister and Chairman FBR assured business community that their refunds would be given immediately. FBR will energize the process to issue re-
funding amount at the earliest. a ceremony is expected to be held within three weeks to distribute the refunding checks to the people. the council also concluded to hold an intensive meeting before the announcement of budget, in which delegates from various chambers and associations will participate. President Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and industry, senator Haji Ghulam ali, member karachi Chambers of Commerce and industry siraj Qasim taili, member Lahore Chambers of Commerce and industry irfan Qaisar shaikh, member saaRC Chambers of Commerce and industry tariq saeed and other leading business persons participated in the meeting.
mechanism
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t’s interesting that very few apologists for the previous regime repeat the mantra of some years ago, that bullish sentiment in the ksE – at the time the best performing asian market – is an adequate indicator of economic growth. Yet even if today’s ground reality betrays a hollowness in the assertion, there is usually some level of coupling between national income trajectory and stock market mechanism. But ours is a strange story. the economy is near collapse, deficits are out of control, tax revenue is minimal and export earnings are dropping due to crippling energy shortage, yet the ksE is on steroids, breaching barrier after barrier with some technical analysts even predicting a rise all the way to 18,000. are they really in their right minds? Best not get ahead of ourselves. true, the market has displayed tremendous, unexpected resilience. and while the latest surge owes to a multiplication of factors like bid in the international commodities market, rising regional cement demand, improving Pak-Us ties, etc, the point might not be far when all-round euphoria actually becomes a precursor to collapse. it’s somewhat like the old real-estatebubble warning – take profits and exit when everyone including the taxi driver tells you to buy property. in the stock market, it’s a good idea to leave when stocks with fundamentally no life start testing upper limits in day trading. and that, unfortunately, has begun. Perhaps now, or soon enough, is just the right time for market regulators to make sure a re-run of the ’05 and ’06 collapses is not in the offing. it’d be a shame if the recent roller coaster turns out just another despicable, deliberate act of manipulation, of bad guys entering, bidding up the market, inviting all and sundry, and leaving after whitening a lot of black money. a lot of middle class wannabes have been burnt this way before. it should not happen again.
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Friday, 06 April, 2012
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Say bonjour to enhanced French-Pak economic ties g
French Ambassador discuss ties while speaking at LccI g Vows to provide technical assistance LAHORE
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STAFF REPORT
REnCH ambassador to Pakistan Philippe thiebaud has said that PakistanFrance Joint Commission for Economic Cooperation is being established to give boost to bilateral trade and economic relations. the French ambassador was speaking at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce & industry on thursday. the LCCi senior Vice President kashif Younis Meher presented the address of Welcome while Vice President saeeda nazar, former President Mian Misbah-ur-Rehman, former senior Vice Presidents abdul Basit, tahir Javed Malik, Executive Committee Member nasir saeed, Mian abuzar shad, sheikh Mohammad ayub, ahmad Hasnain, nabila intisar and shoaib Zahid Malik also spoke on the occasion. the ambassador said that France is also providing financial and technical assistance to Pakistan for execution of hydel power projects to help overcome current energy crisis. He said that France is striving to develop GsP plus mechanism for Pakistani products’ access to EU market. He said that this would give a considerable boost to Pakistani exports. the ambassador said that over $ 1.3 billion trade volume between Pakistan and France in 2011 was enough to make the point that both the sides have multifaceted and strong trade ties. He said that French car makers have shown their interest in Pakistani market and they might have their presence in near future. the French ambassador said that French large companies have
recognized Pakistan’s potential and are interested to make investment here. On French cooperation in education sector, the ambassador said that presently over 600 Masters and Ph D students were getting education in France while France is working with Higher Education Commission to facilitate more Pakistani students. speaking on the occasion, the LCCi senior Vice President kashif Younis Meher said that Pakistan and France are not only steady trading partners but have been substituting great gestures of love, respect and cooperation in other fields of life. He said that considering the size of Pakistan’s consumer market which is over 180 million and the extravagant style of spending by the rich class, French companies should take Pakistan as a potential market for their brands. He said that four kinds of weather and varied types of terrain widen the range of French products to
be marketed in Pakistan. More than half of our population consists of youth who are brand conscious and also inclined to follow the fashion trends. so, i think more and more French brands can be introduced in Pakistan to tap such a huge fraction of society. the LCCi senior Vice President said that catalogue exhibitions, exchanging trade information and organizing franchising exhibitions could play a vital role to enhance the bilateral trade. Pakistan exports comprise of textile clothing and hosiery items, bed & kitchen linens, appliances used in medical sciences, floating docks and light vessels, footwear, carpets, rice, leather goods and etc. Whereas we import turbo-jets, turbo-propellers and other gas turbines, aircraft parts, electric generating sets, rotary converters, medicament mixtures, colza seeds, natural milk products and etc.
Bulls march to cement exports g
cement exports up by 11.2 percent as volumes turn bullish during March KARACHI
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STAFF REPORT
Ust like equity market volumes having been supercharged so far, cement volumes have also unleashed their bull-run during the just-concluded month of March, said the analysts at investCap. Even with the very onset of the summer feel, the analysts said cement sector volumes had started warming up their muscles as the total cement volumes in March 2012 had recorded solid growth, a straight 27 percent MoM, with total monthly volumes standing at 3.18mn tons. Most encouragingly, volumes on the local front punched in the highest growth of 32 percent MoM in the month of Mar-12, and it was hard to locate a growth this high in the recent years, especially in March. Local volumes stood at 2.55 million tons with country’s northern region taking the maximum lead with 2.07 million tons of dispatches (up 33.9 percent MoM, 16.4 percent YoY) and southern region sharing the
rest, with a healthy growth of 23.0 percent MoM and 8.6 percent YoY during Mar-12. not only on the local front did cement volumes show such massive growth turnaround, export dispatches also turned green with marked improvement of 11.2 percent MoM revealed during Mar-12. Positive volume growth in exports was recorded after a persistent decline since Dec-11, with total export volumes clocking in at around 630k tons in Mar-12 against 567k tons in Feb12. However, on a YoY basis, exports during Mar-12 were still down by 23 percent. as far as cumulative cement volumes go, as a result of shining volumes growth recorded in Mar-12, total volumes growth during 9MFY12 improved to 3.6 percent YoY from 3.4 percent YoY recorded till 8MFY12. total cement volumes, in this regard, stood at 23.6mn tons during 9MFY12 (local 17.4mn tons, up 8.4 percent YoY, exports 6.2mn tons, down 7.7 percent YoY) against 22.8mn tons recorded during 9MFY11 (local 16.0mn tons, exports 6.7mn tons). though capacity utilization jacked
up by 200bps MoM to 71 percent, it was still down 400bps YoY (against Mar-11’s) while average utilization stood at around 71 percent during 9MFY12, down 100bps YoY. such massive jump in volumes coupled with consistently rising prices on both local (over Rs 8,500/ton or Rs425/bag) and export fronts (over UsD60/ton FoB), and a high degree of financial leverage (DFL) with relatively stable production costs (mainly coal prices), should all translate into windfall gains for the entire sector with a massive turnaround in return on equity for sector’s shareholders. “We expect another excellent quarter i.e. 3QFY12, in terms of financial performance for the entire cement sector on the basis of flourishing profit margins which almost all of the companies have now been sailing through,” said Yawar Uz Zaman and khurram schehzad of the investCap. the analysts expect DGkC, LUCk, FCCL, aCPL, MLCF, LPCL, BWCL, kOHt and few others taking the lead in terms of profitability.
kashif Younis Meher said that Pakistan has the potential to export quality fashion garments to France particularly made of finest leather. Likewise we can supply sports goods, organic fresh fruits and vegetables etc. Other products which can be imported from France are pharmaceuticals, electro-medical apparatus, machinery parts and remelting scrap etc. tourism is another important area in which both countries can cooperate with each other for its promotion. He said that that French multinationals could find the favourable environment for longterm investment in Pakistan. the success attained by French brands like total and LU on the basis of the strength of their products has proved that there is enormous potential of Foreign Direct investment in Pakistan. apart from that, there are several areas in Pakistan in which French firms can venture independently or in partnership with public and private sectors. Energy and transport can be most lucrative sectors for French investors amidst other fields like telecommunication, chemicals, automobiles, ship building and defence. to further expand commercial and economic ties, it is necessary that both countries should have access to each other’s markets. this will definitely lead both sides to a more strengthened and stable economic partnership. the LCCi Vice President saeeda nazar, speaking on the occasion called for collaboration in education and fashion industry for the benefit of Pakistan. she said that the fashion industry in France is well advanced and Pakistani entrepreneurs could learn a lot from its expertise.
Government’s Guddu gameplan g
747 MW combined cycle power plant planned at Guddu ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT
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HE government plans to install an additional 747 MW combined cycle power plant at Guddu in sindh province to enhance power generation. Ministry of Water and Power has directed the relevant executing department to expedite the required formalities. the proposed power project would consist of two gas turbines of 243 MW each, two heat recovery steam generators (HRsG) followed by one steam turbine having a capacity of 261 MW and associated equipment. site for the proposed power plant is located within the premises of the existing Guddu power plant complex in kashmore district. the existing plant includes 640 MW steam turbine units consisting of two 110 MW units and two 210 MW units, 600 MW combined cycle plant and 415 MW combine cycle plant, making a total plant capacity of 1,655 MW. the existing combined cycle units have the facility of dual firing. However, fuel oil is used only during interruptions in gas supply. there will be no additional gas required for this new 747 mw plant and the existing supply will be used for this additional generation. an environmental impact assessment (Eia) of the proposed project has been conducted in accordance with the stipulations of the environmental laws and the environmental guidelines of the international Finance Corporation (iFC). the power plant will help the government in coping with the increasing demand of electricity in the country. the installation of the power plant will further enhance the power supply to this area, make the supply more reliable and therefore improve the quality of service. the project will also create employment opportunities in the area.
exports extend their downward journey g
Decline of 23pc, overshadows highest ever local sales LAHORE STAFF REPORT
xPORts that provided cushion to the cement manufacturers against unutilised capacities continued their downward trend in March-2012. Exports of cement declined by 23.72 per cent in March 2012 compared to last year defeating the commendable increase of 14.8 per cent in domestic sales that crossed 2.5 million tons. all Pakistan Cement Manufacturers association (aPCMa) spokesman has expressed delight that the domestic sales have picked up by a healthy margin in March with local sales crossing the 2.55 million tons mark – making it the first month ever when the sales crossed the 2.5 million tons physiological barrier. He said that total domestic sales in the first nine months of the current year have reached 17.386 million tons against 16.040 million tons during the same period last year, showing an overall growth of 8.40 per cent. “this is better but domestic industry needs much more sales to utilise its idle production capacity.” He further added that the disappointing performance in exports had reduced the gains made by the domestic sales growth. He said the exports in March-2012 were only 625,358 tons compared to 819,805 tons in March-2011. “in the first nine months of this fiscal the cement exports have declined by 7.76 per cent to 6.243 million tons compared to 6.769 million tons during the corresponding period last year.” He expressed concerns about the decline in sea exports witnessed by the
cement plants located in the south. He said the exports from sea declined during the first nine months of this fiscal by 22 per cent to 2.425 million tons against exports of 3.107 million tons during corresponding period last year. He said that exports to afghanistan registered a growth of two per cent in the first nine months of this fiscal from 3.403 million tons in JulyMarch 2011 to 3.336 million tons in the first nine months of this fiscal. the less growth in exports is mainly due to prolong winter season and it is hoped that by the end of current fiscal the industry shall cross five million tons quantity. He said exports to india though still much below potential registered a healthy increase of over 26 per cent in the first nine months of this fiscal from 382,763 tons in JulyMarch 2011 to 483,337 tons in the first nine months of this fiscal. He hoped that india would remove the non-tariff barriers to pave way for much accelerated exports in next three months of this fiscal.
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Re$eRVe$ RI$e Dollar reserves up to $16.505b for second consecutive week KARACHI STAFF REPORT
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OUntRY’s dollar reserves continue to increase for the second consecutive week which saw a hike of 0.3 percent up to March 30. Last week (up to March 23), the country’s foreign exchange reserves had increased by $ 46 million to stand at $ 16.441 billion from $ 16.395 billion the country held the preceding week ending on March 16. During the week under review the country’s holding of the greenback swelled to $ 16.505 billion, up by $ 64 million or 0.3 percent compared with $ 16.441 billion of last week. the positive trend in the foreign exchange is attributable to an upward trend in the central bank’s reserves which rose by $ 70 million or 0.5 percent this week and $ 96 million or 0.8 percent last week. against last week’s $ 11.767 billion, the bank held $ 11.837 billion during the review week. However, the commercial banks’ reserves again set in the red zone and shrank by $ 5 million to$ 4.668 billion. Last week too the banks had seen their reserves depleting to $ 4.673 billion, down by $ 51 million or 1.0 percent compared to preceding week. after hitting a record $ 18.31 billion mark in July 2011, the country’s foreign exchange reserves are staggering at the $ 16 billion mark with official and unofficial observers citing repayments on account of exports and external loans as a major drain on the dollar holdings.
Massive bear hug halts bull run amid institutional profit-taking KARACHI
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STAFF REPORTER
HURsDaY saw the karachi stocks market shedding 113.83 points amid what the analysts said institutional profit-taking in blue-chip stocks ahead of major earning announcements due next week. the benchmark, ksE 100-share index closed at 13,831.47 points against Wednesday’s 13,945.30 points. the intraday high and low was recorded, respectively, at 13,985.14 and 13,811.04 points. according to ahsan Mehanti, director arif Habib investments, the negatives like uncertainty over announcements on the revised Capital Gains tax regime and concerns over the security situation in the city after Malir blast affected the investors’ sentiments. the trading volumes at the ready-counter were recorded higher at 457.944 million shares against 409.301 million shares of the previous trading session. the trading value too increased to Rs 9.375 billion as against Rs 9.219 billion on Wednesday. “speculations in cement stocks after rise in local and export prices and expectations for
stronger earnings outlook in oil sector supported the market to close above its days low,” said Mehanti. the market capital dropped slightly and closed at Rs 3.549 trillion compared to Rs 3.575 trillion a day earlier. Of the total 374 traded scrips, 146 gained, 158 lost and 70 finished as unchanged. the free-float ksE-30 index also shed 91 points to finish at 12,181.16 points against the previous 12,272.53 points. Lafarge Pakistan maintained its status of the day’s volume leader and counted its traded shares at 33.024 million with the opening and closing rates standing, respectively, at Rs 5.11 and Rs 5.17. the companies followed include D.G khan Cement, Jahangir siddiqui Company, Fauji Cement, Dewan Cement, Bank of Punjab, national Bank of Pakistan, Engro Polymer, iGi investment Bank and azgard nine whose trading turnover for the day was counted at 29.59 million, 29.31 million, 26.800 million, 26.68 million, 20.84 million, 17.90 million, 17.53 million, 15.63 million and 14.98 million shares, respectively. On the future market, the trading volume jumped to 26.382 million shares against 16.66 million of the previous day.
Major Gainers Company
Open
High
Low
Close
Change
Turnover
Indus Motor Company Sanofi-Aventis Lucky Cement Shezan Inter. Mari Gas Company
240.00 152.01 116.59 112.33 87.31
252.00 159.61 122.41 117.00 91.67
240.00 153.00 116.65 110.50 87.01
252.00 159.61 121.95 116.96 91.67
12.00 8,304 7.60 7,515 5.36 4,670,970 4.63 1,497 4.36 297,635
Major Losers Nestle PakXD Rafhan MaizeXD Bata (Pak) Ltd. Philip Morris Pak. Millat Tractors
4405.54 2667.00 615.71 120.10 499.09
4519.00 2800.00 640.00 115.00 502.00
4300.00 2607.00 605.00 114.10 494.50
4319.29 2608.36 623.01 114.10 494.94
5.37 40.19 23.20 5.90 5.72
5.02 38.20 21.64 5.52 4.85
5.17 39.12 21.78 5.70 5.72
-86.25 77 -58.64 22 7.30 48 -6.00 1,642 -4.15 16,209
Volume Leaders Lafarge Pakistan D.G.K.Cement Jah.Sidd. Co. Fauji Cement Dewan Cement
5.11 38.62 22.77 5.52 4.72
0.06 33,024,204 0.50 29,596,699 -0.99 29,313,582 0.18 26,800,880 1.00 26,684,388
Interbank Rates Us Dollar Uk Pound Japanese Yen Euro
90.4509 143.3918 1.1014 118.3369
Dollar East US Dollar Euro Great Britain Pound Japanese Yen Canadian Dollar Hong Kong Dollar UAE Dirham Saudi Riyal Australian Dollar
Buy
Sell
90.50 120.16 144.11 1.0839 90.15 11.49 24.56 24.06 93.15
91.10 121.48 145.73 1.0957 91.65 11.67 24.83 24.30 94.61
CORPORATE CORNER Free Lounge Service launched by UBL at Jinnah International Airport, Karachi KARACHI: UBL, one of Pakistan’s largest private banks, inaugurated its Lounges at Jinnah international airport, karachi on tuesday, 27th March, 2012. these lounges situated at both the domestic and international terminals of the airport will provide free of charge amenities and friendly hospitality to valued UBL customers as they await boarding their flights. Mr. atif R. Bokhari, President UBL was present at the occasion, accompanied by other senior executives from UBL. “UBL has always strived to provide the best of products and services to its customers”, said Mr. Bokhari at the event, “through the Lounges at karachi airport UBL is augmenting its endeavor to better facilitate our customers and reaching out to them at all possible touch-points”. PRESS RElEASE
coca-cola, KASHF Foundation sign MoU to help small women entrepreneurs
LAHORE: Coca-Cola Beverages Pakistan Ltd. (CCBPL) and kasHF Foundation signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Monday 2nd of april 2012, for the Women Entrepreneurship Program. according to the MoU, CCBPL will provide kasHF foundation with a grant of Rs. 2.5 million to support the Women Entrepreneurship program. the Mou was signed in CCBPL’s Lahore office by Zohair Mahmood, External affairs Director, CCBPL and Roshaneh Zafar, Director kasHF Foundation. PRESS RElEASE
Islamic Microfinance can be captured through Venture capital LAHORE: By using venture capital, islamic microfinance sector can implement the dream of eliminating poverty from the world. islamic microfinance is facing many hurdles globally, like access of funding under shari’ah compliance sources, lack of awareness and quantity of funding and cost of funds. these remarks were made by nur Global strategies Managing Director kavilash Chawla, who was addressing a workshop on islamic microfinance here on thursday. the work-
shop was organised by the alHuda Centre of islamic Banking and Economics. speaking on islamic microfinance sector in Pakistan, Chawla said that like other countries Pakistan was also facing hurdles in the development of microcredit. He pointed out that international donor institutions avoid funding to Pakistan due to lack of awareness in the country. He appreciated the role of alHuda Centre of islamic Banking and Economics, and said that it was the sole institution in the country that conducted road shows, workshops and training programs countrywide for the awareness of islamic microfinance. STAFF REPORT
KSe, StAP join hands to educate market participants
Meezan Bank profits up 106pc to Rs3.4b during 2011
KARACHI: the karachi stock Exchange (ksE) and society of technical analysts of Pakistan (staP) thursday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to enhance technical skills of the investors, traders and stock analysts. Managing Director ksE nadeem naqvi and President staP Ovais ahsan signed the MoU here at the ksE auditorium in the presence of ksE board members, management committee of staP and other concerned. “this would be a positive step towards enhancing the technical skills of investors, traders, and analysts”, naqvi said adding the ksE would continue to play a vital role in educating the investors. the MD emphasized that any investment decision, whether short term or long term, needed discipline to manage and mitigate the risk. in this respect, technical analysis can provide such a discipline. STAFF REPORT
KARACHI: Meezan Bank’s profit-after-tax for 2011 grew by 106 percent to Rs 3.4 billion against last year’s Rs 1.65 billion, irfan siddiqui, president and CEO of the bank, told the shareholders at the 16th annual General Meeting held here. siddiqui said the bank’s earnings per share for the year increased to Rs 4.22 (2011: Rs. 2.05) and deposits grew by 30 percent to Rs 170 billion as at December 2011 (2010: Rs 131 billion). the bank opened 53 new branches in 2011 making it the 9th largest bank branch network in Pakistan with 275 branches spread across 83 cities of Pakistan. approving the bank’s annual and consolidated audited accounts, the shareholders cleared 12.5 percent bonus shares for the year continuing the bank’s unbroken payout record since its date of listing on karachi stock Exchange. STAFF REPORT
Samsung Galaxy note Studio comes to Park towers Karachi LAHORE: after the resounding success of the Galaxy note studio event in Lahore, samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. the global leader in digital technology and telecommunications, will hold another colorful event at Park towers-karachi from 6th to 8thapril, 2012. these events in Pakistan are a continuation of a global series of promotional activities for the samsung Galaxy note - the first tablet and smart-phone hybrid that provides unmatched ease in capturing those “big ideas” using samsung’s sophisticated “s pen” technology, to accurately digitize sketches, artworks and handwritten text. at the Galaxy note studio, skillful artists and sketchers will draw free caricatures of the participants, using the revolutionary “Caricature” feature in the smart phone. these caricatures will also be printed onto t-shirts & Mugs and presented as souvenirs for the participants. along with fun filled activities, the visitors shall also be able to purchase Galaxy note at a discounted price. STAFF REPORT
MoU signed between Hec recognised IcM-UK and nccS LAHORE: HEC recognized Uk based examining body institute of Commercial Management (iCMUk) has signed MoU with the nCCs, a franchise college network of the ‘University of south asia’, to offer 4-Year Uk Bachelor (Hons) level qualification in Management studies & Computing across Pakistan. M. Moazam shahbaz naqeebi, Regional Director of iCM-Uk, said that we aim to make borderless recognised qualifications accessible to students even in smaller towns & cities in Pakistan and this MoU will help achieve this goal. PRESS RElEASE
analyze and leverage information intelligence at the speed of thought,” said Mark Hurd, President, Oracle. “Business analytics — getting the right data to the right person at the right time to make the optimal decision is the most important thing you can get from your data. analytics is in Oracle’s Dna and is a vital part of everything we do – database, middleware, applications and engineered systems.” “Oracle’s continuous stream of technology innovation, across Engineered systems, inmemory analytics, enterprise discovery, prebuilt analytic and performance management applications, advanced analytics and Big Data ensure our customers can leverage existing it investments and gain increased business advantage by rapidly gaining greater levels of analytical insight,” said Balaji Yelamanchili, senior vice president, analytics and Performance Management Products, Oracle. STAFF REPORT
Ufone signs up Pakistan’s top golfers
KARACHI: Ufone has accentuated its ongoing commitment to sports in Pakistan by signing up the top golfers Pakistan has to offer. this is the first time in the history of Pakistan that golf has been endorsed at such a massive country wide scale. this endorsement shall give Pakistan golf a chance to gain international exposure and acclaim. By signing on shabbir iqbal (Pakistan no.1), Matloob ahmed (Pakistan no.2), Muhammad Munir (Pakistan no.3) and Mubariz ahmed (Pakistan Junior Champion), Ufone has reaffirmed its conviction to support sports in the country. speaking at the occasion abdul aziz President & CEO Ufone said that these gentlemen have, had a great career and it is indeed a great opportunity for them to share their talent with the whole nation. PRESS RElEASE
oracle’s Mark Hurd delivers strategy to drive It simplification KARACHI: today, Oracle President Mark Hurd addressed the Oracle OpenWorld tokyo audience, speaking about the explosion of data and the critical business need to simplify it. With 65 percent of the world’s enterprise data stored in Oracle databases, the need for real-time business analytics ranks among the most important business challenges for C-level executives. “Oracle offers the market’s only complete, integrated Business analytics solutions that enable customers to
iSlAmAbAd: Airline Senior Officials delegation met Federal Finance minister, mr.Abdul Hafeez Shaikh in islamabad on 03rd April 2012 to discuss the issues related to Federal Excise duty. Picture shows From lR: mr. Salim bhutto, mr. Feroz Jamal, mr. Ken marshal, mr. Salim motiwala and mr. Rizwan Ali merchant along with other airline officials. PRESS RElEASE