Pro 18 09 2013 layout 1 by Profit Epaper

PRO 18-09-2013_Layout 1 9/18/2013 5:07 AM Page 1

BUSINESS Wednesday, 18 September, 2013

airBlue Coo’S involvement in Pia unCalled for! JACPIAE spokesman says Abbasi was seemingly working to promote his airlines through weakness of the PIA commercial and operational setbacks Karachi: The Joint Action Committee of the PIA Employees (JACPIAE) has slammed the intervention of Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Chief Operating Officer Airblue, in the affairs of national flag carrier with ill-convened ideas to damage a state-owned corporation which is already in severe financial crisis. The JACPIAE spokesman said Abbasi was seemingly working to promote his airlines through weakness of the PIA commercial and operational setbacks while expanding his airlines operations domestically and internationally in parallel. The involvement of Abbasi was an open conflict of interest if he was involved in consultation process for the PIA privatisation or development because his airline had direct competition with the national flag carrier. He said the PIA flights on profitable routes of Birmingham and Frankfurt had been suspended because Abbasi’s airlines had been given permission by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to start its flights operations on the same routes. He added that the destruction of national flag carrier was being planned to develop private airlines as policymakers had decided to privatise the PIA on the one hand and allow private carrier to run and expand their operations as non-public without listing their companies in the stock exchanges on the other. The JACPIAE’s spokesman lambasted his to support for the business contract between the PIA and the Turkish Airlines, adding that Abbasi’s support seemed obvious for anything which was against the interest of PIA. The business plan of the PIA with the Turkish Airlines was a recipe of complete downfall of the national flag carrier though private airlines were seeking a golden opportunity to expand their businesses locally and globally in the replacement of PIA. Staff RepoRt

Effort only fully releases its reward after a person refuses to quit. — Napoleon Hill

(IF GOVT PATRONISES LIVESTOCK)

Halal meat exPort can reach $6b In next 5 years: saIfI LahOrE

Staff RepoRt

hE Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) Convener for Standing Committee on halal Meat Export Naseeb Ahmad Saifi has said that halal meat export from Pakistan can touch $5 to $6 billion mark in next five years if the government patronises livestock farmers and devise a coordinated and comprehensive policy for promotion of this industry. Talking to media persons on Sunday, he claimed that Pakistan had made Volume of remarkable progress during the last few halal market in years amongst the US is $17.60b while US was $17.60 halal meat exbillion while halal porters. he was all halal products products constipraised for the constitute 18% of tuted 18 per cent steps taken by Punof the world food jab Chief Minister the world market. Similarly, Shahbaz Sharif for the food market volume of halal food promotion of halal meat of Europe had reached exports from Punjab and $67 billion. he said many said the government could also support the exporters on that pattern as companies in Europe had converted they could earn precious foreign ex- themselves according to consumers of change for the country and strengthen halal products. however, he said their the national economy. Saifi said that ac- contribution was negligible in this cording to a survey the global Muslim trade. 'Indian halal food export had population is around 1.86 billion, which reached $23 billion per annum, which constitutes 30 per cent of the total world should be a matter of concern for Pakpopulation. he said according to a re- istan,' Saifi added. he called for unport volume of halal products was $635 derstanding the importance of mark of 'certified halal products' on these billion dollars in the year 2010. he said volume of halal market in products. he said if Pakistan wanted

to compete with other countries in WTO regime then it had to promote its products at international level and devise an effective policy for promoting products as certified halal items at the earliest. he said exporters of halal food and meat were facing numerous challenges and hardships in Pakistan which should be resolved at the earliest to promote food processing and export industry. he said exporters should be given special incentives and get rid of unjustifiable taxes and export tax, interference of provincial institutions and uninterrupted gas and electricity supply. It would help not only this industry but also earn the precious foreign exchange and bridging the gap between their import and export bill, he added.

SECP issues 73 show-cause notices to various companies Karachi Staff RepoRt

With an aim to safeguard the investors’ interest in both listed and unlisted corporate sector, the Enforcement Department of the SECP in July and August initiated 73 show-cause proceedings against chief executives, directors and auditors of different companies. The regulator moved in view of the breaches of statutory requirements related to takeover regulations, issuance of auditors’ reports, powers of directors, holding and proceedings of annual general meeting, direction to hold over-due annual general meetings, investment in associated companies and undertakings, reporting of facts, employees’ provident funds, circulation of financial statements, disclosure of directors’ interests, treatment of surplus on reval-

uation of fixed assets, and security deposits. The department concluded 66 proceedings against chief executives, directors and auditors of companies either by penalizing them or by issuance of warning to the identified defaulters, depending on the nature and impact of default. In addition, the department also initiated inspection into the affairs of two companies. Addressing the grievances of investors, the department resolved 29 complaints pertaining to nonissuance of shares, non-verification of transfer deeds, and non-payment of dividends. In addition, the SECP during the months granted exemption to five companies from the requirements of filing of consolidated financial statements, as available under the law. A listed company was allowed to change its financial year to coincide with the year-end of its financial statements with that of its parent company. An application for registration as a group was also approved.

SCIENTIFIC TRUTH ABOUT AGRI BIOTECHNOLOGY Introduced fIrst In 1996, today genetIcally-modIfIed or bIotech crops are beIng grown by mIllIons of farmers across the globe from the unIted states to phIlIppInes LahOrE NaSIR BUtt

Introduction of new technologies has always been resisted in any field by the people who are the beneficiaries of the status-quo and those afraid of any new technology. Same thing is happening to agriculture in Pakistan and there is heated debate in the country on the introduction of genetically-modified or biotech crops, although data shows it is the most rapidly adopted crop technology in the history of modern agriculture. Introduced first in 1996, today genetically-modified or biotech crops are being grown by millions of farmers across the globe – from the United States to Philippines. According to the latest report of International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA), which has been tracking global biotech crop adoption trends since the inception of biotechnology in 1996, the global adoption of biotech crops continued to rise in 2012 with

new countries realising the benefits. hectarage of biotech crops increased every single year between 1996-2012 with double-digit growth rates, reflecting the confidence and trust of millions of riskaverse farmers around the world in both developing and industrial countries. At a time when the world is turning to science and technology, particularly biotechnology, to meet much-needed challenges in agriculture, Pakistan seems to be lacking a national strategy and plan of action to fully use this revolutionary science. While there is a disinformation and misinformation campaign because of lack of understanding of agri-sciences, the voices of the experts, who know what agricultural biotechnology exactly is, are being ignored. Biotech crops are not new to Pakistan. Pakistan has already embraced crop biotechnology by commercialising Bt cotton (although through informal channel). According to the ISAAA, Pakistan is among the 10 countries which grew biotech crops on more than one

million hectares in 2012. Now, Pakistan is in the process of approving GM corn, whose field trials have been completed as per government rules and regulations for commercial cultivation. Before clarifying myths that are propagated by anti-science and low-quality seed companies, we must know that what exactly biotechnology is and how it works. have you ever wondered where our crops come from and what were they like thousands of years ago, or hundreds of years ago? The truth is that our food crops today are in fact very different from the original wild plants from which they were derived. The fact is that crop biotechnology is just an evolution of traditional agricultural methods and merely an extension of traditional breeding. Almost all GM crops are based on two well-established and rigorously tested technologies. First, Bt crops produce a bacterial protein known as Bacillus thuringiensis. It’s naturally occurring—and it’s widely used by organic farmers to selectively kill pest insects. Genetically engineered Bt crops simply produce their own Bt. The effects are identical to what happens on organic farms—which is what makes protests against genetically-engineered Bt crops seem so bizarre to scientists. The net result

is that Bt crops increase yields because farmers lose fewer crops to insect pests. The other major GM crops are those designed to be herbicide-tolerant, most commonly glyphosate, and better known as Roundup. Glyphosate is biodegradable and breaks down rapidly in the environment. Because the weed killer is more powerful and less toxic than the chemicals that it competed with, farmers quickly adopted glyphosate. In case of GM corn, plants have been genetically modified to have agronomic desirable traits. Traits that have been engineered into corn include resistance to insect pests and herbicide tolerance. It means that GM corn makes a protein that kills specific insect pests without the use of insecticides. Besides, it can also reduce the losses caused

Stocks end lower, rupee steady Karachi Staff RepoRt

The country’s main stock exchange closed lower on Tuesday as investors anticipated more interest rate hikes from the central bank. The benchmark 100-share index of the Karachi Stock Exchange fell 0.76 percent or 176.18 points to 23,066.50. Investors cashed in shares and relatively low volumes of stock were traded. The fall followed Friday's decision by the central bank to raise interest rates from 9.0 percent to 9.5 percent, in line with monetary reforms demanded by the International Monetary Fund in return for a bailout package. The rise in interest rates may signal a slowdown for investors after a period of rapid growth. The Karachi Stock Exchange was among the world's top performing stock markets last year, offering returns of 50 percent. Engro Corporation Ltd fell 1.68 percent to 143 rupees while Maple Leaf Cement Factory Ltd was down 3.35 percent to 25.40 rupees. The rupee ended steady at 104.94/104.99 against the dollar, compared to Monday's close of 104.94/104.99.

WB to provide $ 0.9m for competitive industries in KP

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan signed a grant agreement of US$ 09 million with the World Bank on Tuesday for “Competitive Industries Project in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa” to be funded under the Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF). The agreement was signed by Nargis Sethi, Secretary Economic Affair Division on behalf of the government of Pakistan, Sajid Khan Jadoon, Secretary Industry, on behalf of the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Rachid Benmessaoud, Country Director World Bank on behalf of the World Bank. The agreement is in line with the present government policy of generating economic activities in all the federating units particularly Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to offset effects of the fight against militancy and extremism. INp by weeds. In a nutshell, GM corn is just an improved version of traditional corn and can be the solution to the major problems (insect pests and weeds) our corn farmers are facing today. The GM corn has the capability of significantly reducing the losses caused by certain chewing insect pests and weeds which in turn results in higher production. This transgenic maize provides inplant protection with dual modes of action to protect against certain above-ground pests that plague Pakistani farmers including the corn Stem borer, (Chilo partellus), American Bollworm (helicoverpa Armigera), army worm (Spodoptera Litura) and beet armyworm (Spodoptera Exigua). It also provides the corn plant with tolerance to glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup(r) brand agricultural herbicides, opening up new possibilities for weed control for Pakistani farmers. This technology is also environment friendly because use of pesticides will decrease considerably. Therefore, the scientific truth is that biotechnology is just a refinement of breeding techniques that have been used to improve plants for thousands of years. This technology is simply a more precise science, so scientists are able to isolate a specific gene to make exact changes to a crop. Scientists around the world agree that the risks associated with crop plants developed using biotechnology are the same as those for similar varieties developed using traditional breeding methods.

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Every day I get up and look through the Forbes list of the richest people in America. If I'm not there, I go to work. — Robert Orben

Banking equities to yield maximum as SBP ups policy rate Karachi

Staff RepoRt

FTER the central bank's surprise U-turn on policy rate in a short span of three months, the next question which arises in investors' mind is the change in earnings of listed companies, especially banks. "Banking stocks that have been marred during the last few years due to low interest rates scenario are expected to yield the most out of this move," said Topline analyst Zeshaan Afzal. The recent policy shift will not only widen banking spreads due to high return on earning assets but also the impact on profitability will be further magnified this time due to the recent imposition of minimum deposit rate as it has squeezed margins in last few quarters. At present, one of the most important assumptions in the financial models of banks is the quantum of further increase in interest rate. The analyst said he had revised his discount rate projection for 2014 and onwards on the back of their slightly upward revised inflation target of 9.5-10.5 percent in FY14 (Previous 9-10 percent in FY14) and SBP hint on further monetary tightening. "Keeping minimum deposit rate constant at 6 percent on average balances, we have assumed another 100bps increase in discount rate in 2014. Incorporating all, we have revised up our sample

banks 2013-2015 earnings by an average 7 percent." Though banks were always sensitive to movement in interest rates, recent scenario of relatively low banking spreads had increased their sensitivity to the change, he added. "Due to low interest rates and relatively higher deposit costs (in the shape of 6 percent minimum rate), banking spreads have shrunk to 7-year low," said the analyst. During 1h2013, banking spreads have average at 6.25 percent which are lowest since 1h2005. Keeping all other factors constant a 50bps increase in interest rate results in likely to increase spreads by 30bps. With the assumption of another 100bps increase in 2014 along with the improvement in balance sheet, earnings of the Topline's banking universe are expected to rise by 21 percent during 2014 compared to 4 percent decline in 2013. Though the interest rate outlook suggest significant rise in future earnings, the analyst maintained 'market-weight' stance on local banks on the back of recent price performance in the banking stocks. "Our banking sample is currently trading at 2013E PE and PBV of 10.4 and 1.8x respectively with average ROE of 17.6 percent," Afzal said. Going forward, with expected earnings growth of 21 percent in 2014, the sector trades at PE of 8.7x and PBV of 1.7x on 2014 projections with estimated average ROE of 19.3 percent.

dawood Hercules largest group in region to move to the cloud Karachi: The Dawood Hercules Group is the largest Pakistani conglomerate and a pioneer in moving its IT systems to the Cloud to improve resilience and cut operating costs. Dawood Hercules needed to upgrade its communications and collaboration platform. After evaluating available offerings, it chose Microsoft Office 365 in the public cloud and migrated more than 500 users—with the potential to scale up to 2,000 users in associated companies. Describing the Group’s transition to the Cloud, Shahid H. Pracha, CEO Dawood Hercules, said,“Business continuity is a key factor in our business and moving to the cloud doesn’t require Dawood Hercules to change the way it works, because the service is based on familiar productivity tools which our people know and trust. This transition will also help us to improve shareholder value”. Amir Rao, Country Manager, Microsoft, while talking about the system, said “Office 365 has the best-in-class cloud-based productivity and collaboration tools which has enabled our customers to spend fewer resources and time on IT and focus on their core business. Regardless of the business size, any organization can now get enterprise-caliber software and services for the first time with reduced cost and can stay updated more easily using the product”. pReSS ReLeaSe

BUSINESS B

Wednesday, 18 September, 2013

Major Gainers COMPANY OPEN Island textile 832.64 bata (pak) 1800.00 sanofi-aventis 516.80 shezan Inter. 605.00 Indus motor cospot 332.13

HIGH 874.27 1830.00 539.99 620.00 339.99

LOW 874.27 1830.00 539.99 600.00 333.32

CLOSE CHANGE 874.27 41.63 1830.00 30.00 539.99 23.19 617.50 12.50 339.99 7.86

TURNOVER 1,950 20 100 24,650 3,600

5960.00 3550.00 959.99 226.00 411.00

5960.00 3326.00 935.00 221.84 405.00

5960.00 3477.60 945.00 221.84 406.00

-90.00 -23.07 -11.76 -11.67 -9.00

40 4,560 2,350 323,500 1,000

10.63 8.87 27.15 13.14 23.10

9.30 7.90 25.27 12.62 22.20

9.52 8.87 25.55 12.69 22.63

-0.11 1.00 -0.73 -0.40 0.19

39,727,000 17,655,500 14,347,500 10,992,000 10,719,500

Major Losers nestle pak. wyeth pak ltd siemens pakistan treet corporat abbott lab.xd

6050.00 3500.67 956.76 233.51 415.00

Volume Leaders p.I.a.c.(a) pak elektron(r) maple leaf cement b.o.punjab bank al-falah

9.63 7.87 26.28 13.09 22.44

Interbank Rates usd gbp Jpy euro

pKr 105.2529 pKr 167.2574 pKr 1.0614 pKr 140.6389

Forex uK pound sterling euro us dollar canadian dollar australian dollar Japanese yen saudi riyal uae dirham china yuan

BUY

SELL

167.5 139.95 105.7 102 98 1.058 28.05 28.65 16.5

167.75 140.2 105.95 102.25 98.25 1.07 28.3 28.8 16.75

CORPORATE CORNER flight from Peshawar PK2015 carrying 329 at 2.00PM, from Multan PK2315 carrying 503 at 7.35PM and from Quetta PK2715 took off at 10.00PM carrying 329 pilgrims to holy land. The departure and arrival of all flights was on time. Till now the total uplift of intending pilgrims stand at 13,500 by thirty seven hajj flights. So far, four Hajj flights from Karachi carried 1,426, nine flights from Lahore 4,457; nine flights from Islamabad 4,311; eight flights from Peshawar 2,871; four flights from Quetta 1,314 and two flights from Multan carried 1,005 Hujjaj to Saudi Arabia. pReSS ReLeaSe

Sheikh muhammad al nahayan inaugurates 500th branch of Bank alfalah Karachi: Sheikh Muhammad Al Nahayan, Chairman Dhabi Holdings and son of His Highness Sheikh Nahayan bin Mubarak Al Nahayan, inaugurated the 500th branch of Bank Alfalah in Karachi yesterday. The ceremony was attended by Mr. Atif Bajwa, CEO, Bank Alfalah, Mr. David Burlison, Managing Director, Dhabi Holdings, Mr. Ikram-Ul-Majeed Sehgal, Director, Bank Alfalah and senior management of Bank Alfalah. Speaking on the occasion, Sheikh Muhammad Al Nahayan said, “I would like to congratulate the CEO, management and employees of Bank Alfalah on achieving this important milestone. Under Atif’s leadership, the Bank has made outstanding progress and continues to move on a sharp trajectory of growth. I wish to reiterate the Group’s commitment towards the development and prosperity of Pakistan and its great people.” Bank Alfalah is Pakistan’s sixth largest Bank and now boasts a branch network of 500 branches across 172 cities in Pakistan along with a presence in Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Bahrain and the UAE. It is also the largest acquirer of credit cards in Pakistan and enjoys a strong position in the SME and Islamic Banking segments. pReSS ReLeaSe

15, 500 Haj pilgrims transported by Pia so far Karachi: Pakistan International Airlines on the seventh day of its Haj Operation operated six special hajj flights while carrying around 2,500 Hujjaj to the Holy Land. On Monday, PIA’s PK2115 carrying 497 Hujjaj left Karachi at 6.25AM, from Peshawar PK2613 carrying 329 at 09.20AM, from Lahore PK2215 carrying 499 at 11.25AM, another

emirates to commence daily service to Kabul

iiui to start distance learning education project soon

iSLaMaBaD: International Islamic University, Islamabad (IIUI) going to start distance learning education system along with regular educational degree programmes soon. In order to make this project practical, a high officials meeting of Deans, Directors of Academics and Administrative Departments was conducted which was chaired by Vice President IIUI, Prof. Dr. Sahibzada Sajid ur Rehman. Dr. Sahibzada Sajid ur Rehman said that the new project of distance learning education should be very compact and

comprehensive and free from all kinds of deficiencies and lacks as the IIUI recognized with its education standards. pReSS ReLeaSe

islamabad marriott hosts Brazilian food festival from 21st iSLaMaBaD: Together with the Embassy of Brazil, the Islamabad Marriott Hotel welcomes the Brazilian Food Festival starting on the 21st and ending on the 24th of September, 2013. The festival aims to promote the incredible diversity of the Brazilian culture and cuisine through music and food giving guests a chance to enjoy the sounds and tastes of Brazil. One of the highlights of this year’s program is undoubtedly the presence of acclaimed Chef Marcelo Shambeck and Sous Chef Rodrigo Orlandi who will be visiting the capital all the way from Brazil to stage a festival of authentic Brazilian food. Besides live cooking the event will feature Gabriel Titan a famed singer and musical performer coming directly from Rio De Janerio. pReSS ReLeaSe

fun City initiates own CSr chapter – one Good Heart Karachi: Emirates, one of the world’s fastest growing airlines today announced it is to commence a daily passenger service to Khwaja Rawash Airport, Kabul, Afghanistan from 4th December 2013. The daily flight to Afghanistan’s capital city will be the first destination in the country which Emirates has served. The route will be operated by an Airbus A340-500 configured in a 3 cabin configuration, offering 12 First Class, 42 Business Class and 204 Economy Class seats. “Emirates has identified a demand for a premium service airline offering between Dubai and Kabul. With this new route Emirates will be able to offer passengers travelling to and from the city excellent global connections via Dubai, combined with the award-winning product and service the airline is renowned for. This includes operating the only First Class cabin between Dubai and Kabul”, said Barry Brown, Emirates’ Divisional Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations East. “We expect the flight to be particularly popular with corporate business travellers, as well as Afghan nationals returning home to visit friends and family. It will also present a new opportunity for cargo operations to the country, particularly for the shipment of pharmaceuticals, perishable foodstuffs and construction materials.” pReSS ReLeaSe

iSLaMaBaD: One Good Heart, a corporate social responsibility initiative of FUN CITY commenced its first activity at its venue in The Centaurus recently. Fun City arranged an exciting evening for the children of Saba Homes to enjoy the facilities at the play land along with free rides and gifts. The One Good Heart program aims to develop long term goals in creating platforms that improve the quality of life for underprivileged children, along with facilitating children based NGO’s with fun activities & day out’s at Fun City on a monthly basis. While giving a brief on One Good Heart at the activity, Umar Dar General Manager at Fun City said, “As part of our corporate values 101 ASI (the team behind Fun City), the objective of the “One Good Heart” program, is to channel a percentage of our revenue to exceptional causes so that everybody who comes to Fun City can say proudly that they were part of a good deed, a good act or a good cause. We specifically will be looking to develop programs & provide meaningful opportunities that improve the quality of life for underprivileged children.” Saghir Aslam, Chairman Saba Aslam Education & Welfare Trust said, “We are grateful to the management of Fun City for inviting the children. The evening gave these children a chance to live happy & forget their problems for a day, and we are proud to be one of the first participants of the Fun City-One Good Heart program. It shows the genuine concern and generosity of the team behind this program and we wish them all the best in their goals & endeavor”. The activity was put together with the support of Green Volunteers- an “action for change” cause group made up of young university & college students based in Islamabad. pReSS ReLeaSe