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BUSINESS Saturday, 23 February, 2013
KARACHI
Construction of Pakistani portion of IP project to commence soon. – Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qassemi
Buying spree by foreigners helps KSE mark 18,000 points
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ISMAIL DILAWAR
HE Karachi stocks market continues to clinch new records as Friday saw the benchmark 100-share index breaking the physiological barrier of 18,000 points. The index, on last trading day of the week, closed at the all time high of 18,074 points against Thursday’s 17,921.02 points, gaining 153.25 points. The intraday high and low were, respectively, recorded at 18,087.54 and 17,896.66 points. Of the total 365 scrips traded, the share price of 208 increased, 141 decreased and 16 remained unchanged. The free-float KSE-30 index closed at 14,814.06 points, up by 144.81 points or 0.99 percent compared to Thursday’s 14,669.25 points. The market observers cite increased buying by the foreign fund managers coupled with a strong corporate earning announcements as major contributable factors for Friday’s historic increase in the stocks index. “(The) Index crossed the physiological level of 18,000 due to continuing buying by foreign fund managers in the last few days,” viewed Mohammad Sohail, a senior equity analyst and chief executive officer of Topline Securities. Ahsan Mehanti, another market observer and director at Arif Habib Research, said the record boom was led by selected blue-chip stocks across the board on strong earnings outlook. At the ready-counter, the trading volume was recorded higher by 19.5 million
The record boom was led by selected blue-chip stocks across the board on strong earnings outlook AHSAN MEHANTI MARKET OBSERVER
shares at 369.041 million shares compared to 349.532 shares traded on the previous day. Sohail termed the volume as “healthy’ saying the 370 million shares traded were mostly focused towards the telecommunication shares. Mehanti also came up with same saying the telecoms sector was leading the stocks rally on back of the Supreme Court’s ruling against the order of the High Court
regarding the International Clearing House deal raising higher earnings outlook on LDI revenues. The telecommunication firms like WorldCall Telecom, Telecadr Limited and PTCL were top of the 10 well-performing scrips on the day. The three companies counted their traded shares, respectively, at 45.79, 31.63 and 29.81 million, registering a per share gain of 14 paisas, Re 1 and Rs 1.14.
Other listed companies followed were TRG Pakistan, Maple Leaf Cement, Wateen Telecom, Fauji Cement, Jahangir Siddiqui Company, Nishat Mills and Engro Corporation. “The MCB, Engro and PTCL closed at their upper limit due to positive news flows while some correction was witnessed in oil stocks due to falling international oil prices,” said Sohail. The stocks value also was encouraging
ECC approves wheat stock disposal by Punjab till March 31 ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT
Strategic wheat reserve of one million ton, if required, will be maintained by PASSCO only after the cut off date before the commencement of new procurement
The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet on Friday approved disposal of the entire wheat reserve stock, by the Punjab government till the cut-off date of March 31. The ECC, which met here with Federal Finance Minister Saleem H. Mandviwalla in the chair, also decided that the strategic wheat reserve of one million ton, if required, might be maintained by the Pakistan Agriculture Storage and Services Corporation (PASSCO) only after the cut off date before the commencement of new procurement. The summary in this regard was presented by the Ministry of Finance. On a summary of the Ministry of National Food Security and Research, the ECC approved
donation of 75,000 ton wheat to the World Food Programme for internally displaced persons of Federally Admnistered Tribal Areas and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources informed the ECC that Latif Field was expected to produce up to 77.3 MMCFD gas during the fourth quarter of this year, whereas allocation from this field had been made for 25 MMCFD. The ECC approved allocation of 77.3 MMCDF gas from Latif Field to the Sui Southern Gas Company Ltd (SSGCL) and the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd (SNGPL) on equal sharing basis. On a summary moved by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources, the ECC decided to allow import of cylinders/kits for which L/C opened or bank contract (as per State Bank regulations) has already been concluded before Decem-
ber,31, 2012. For the purpose of developing export oriented business of CNG conversion kits, the ECC allowed import of their parts/components for export of kits only subject to the condition that those parts were not locally manufactured. On two summaries moved by Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources, the ECC approved the arrangement of diversion of already allocated gas from Engro’s old plant to their new one till December 31, 2013 and the allocation of gas from RetiMaru, Sara West and Mari New Discovery to Engro in the interim period till the implementation of ECC earlier decision. On another summary moved by the Ministry of Petroleum, the ECC approved M/s Byco’s request for reimbursement of operational cost of Single Point Mooring (SPM) through IFEM as per PARCO rates.
and rose to Rs 9.407 billion from the previous day’s Rs 8.604 billion. The market capital also set in the green zone and swelled by Rs 27 billion to Rs 4.491 trillion compared to Rs 4.464 trillion of the last trading session. The future market also remained robust where the futures traded skyrocketed to 41.862 million shares against 24.116 million of Thursday. “Strong textile sector exports data, record earning announcements, the current account surplus for July-January 2013, expected hike in the KESC’s power tariff easing circular debt concerns in energy sector and hopes for the OGDC’s gas sales agreement with fertilizer companies affected the sentiments,” Mehanti summed up. According to market analysts, despite all the odds on politico-economic front the index would keep its northward journey continued and would cross the 19,500 points by the end of the current fiscal year.
Tractor production surges by 102% ISLAMABAD: Production of tractors witnessed surge of 102.46 percent during the first half of the current fiscal year as compared to the same period of last year. According to the data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistic (PBS), as many as 27,205 tractors were manufactured during July-December (2012-13) against the production of 13,437 tractors during July-December (2011-12). On year-on-year basis, the production increased by 234.02 percent during December 2012 as compared to the output of December 2011, the data revealed. As many as 5,655 tractors were produced during December 2012 as compared to the production of 1,693 units during December 2011. It is pertinent to mention here that the overall growth of country’s Large Scale Manufacturing (LSM) witnessed positive growth of 2.13 percent during the first six months of the current fiscal year over the corresponding period of the last financial year. While, on year-on-year basis, the LSM grew by 6.5 percent during the month of December 2013 when compared to the same month of last year.APP
Pakistan urged to tap potential of venture capital for sustainable growth ISLAMABAD APP
Pakistan has great opportunity to tap the true potential of Venture Capital for job creation and acceleration of economic growth on sustainable grounds. “Pakistan is having potential as well as talent to promote venture capital to strengthen its economy,” Faysal Sohail, Managing Director of CMEA Capital in San Francisco USA told APP in an interview. The American experts was accompanied by Matthew Boland, Deputy Press Officer-Deputy Spokesman of US Embassy in Islamabad and Ambassador Shahid Kamal and Advisor Science, Technology and In-
novation Organization (STIO). It is pertinent to mention here that Faysal Sohail is currently visiting Pakistan to explore venture capital potential in various fields of economy with special focus on energy sector. He was of the view that although venture capital was a new idea for Pakistan but it has the potential to boost the country’s economy by utilizing the vast talent of its young generation. He said that complying with Islamic ideology, Venture Capital is risk-based capital for entrepreneurship with prospects of good returns on investments. Faysal Sohail said the venture capital sector was investment-friendly as risk was
shared by both investor and owner of the project. It provides an opportunity of sharing capital and skills through a mutual venture, he added. Replying to a question, Faysal said in Pakistan the energy sectors, including solar and other alternative energies, web, software and commerce, including e-commerce, and third generation mobile technologies were the major sectors which could boost national economy and create job opportunities. He said during the last 20 years, 100 per cent new jobs created in the United States were through venture capital, so this sector had great potential for Pakistan also. “Venture capital is like life-blood for various companies”, he remarked.
Replying to another question, he said Pakistan and the United States have a lot of potential for collaboration in the field of venture capital and in this regard Pak-US Business Council and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) could play an important role. The venture capital expert stressed the need for highlighting the new idea of venture capital in Pakistan so that people as well as the entrepreneurs take optimum benefit of the important sector. “Since the economic growth is driven by small and medium size enterprises, the venture capital can play an important role to boost the economy on sustainable grounds,” he added.
Although venture capital is a new idea for Pakistan, it has the potential to boost the country’s economy by utilising the vast talent of its young generation FAYSAL SOHAIL SMEA MD
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Pakistan-India banking channel to be established soon. – NBP President Dr Asif Brohi
CORPORATE CORNER
KARACHI: Andrey V Demidov, Consul General of the Russian Federation, hosted a dinner reception at the Consulate. Picture shows Acting Governor of Sindh Nisar Ahmed Khuro, Bushra Fazli, Head of Marketing Avari Towers, Gordon Gorman, General Manager Avari Towers, Andrey V Demidov, Shujat Ali Baig HBL, MNA Khushbakht Shujat. PR
Wateen Telecom launches ‘Values’ to achieve strategic ambition
PakWheels.com brings third Annual Auto Show in Lahore LAHORE: PakWheels.com is Pakistan’s leading automobiles website, with over 20 million page views and over 2 Million users every month. This vibrant enterprise is organizing a captivating
Saturday, 23 February, 2013
Major Gainers Automobile-Show on Sunday 17th March 2013 from 11am to 7pm in Lahore. A display of more than 500 exclusive cars including but not limited to sports, exotic, SUVs, vintage and luxury vehicles. There will also be another prime attraction for bike lovers with a tremendous turnout of heavy bikes that will be presented to the attendees. This event promises to be one of the biggest gatherings of automobile car lovers in Pakistan, where over 25,000 people are expected to attend and arrangements have been made for providing ample parking space for visitors at the event location. People from different walks of life will come and share their obsession for automotive technology. This exciting event is aimed at promoting the automotive industry in Pakistan, through a lively event, where young fans can also learn about the risks of street racing and reckless driving. The Marketing Manager for PakWheels.com – Mr. Ahmed Saeed enthusiastically pointed out that; “PakWheels has a tradition of coordinating some impressive auto-shows. The last auto show was held in Islamabad in November last year which was attended by over 10,000 people and showcased over 200 cars and bikes. For the last two years we have been conducting these events in Lahore and Islamabad on a regular basis.” Due to the immense support and response we have received from people so far, the up-coming event is surely expected to be a ‘one of a kind’ car show in Pakistan. PR
Wi-tribe gives away iPhone 5 to 15 luck winners
LAHORE: In a first for any corporate organisation in Pakistan, Wateen Telecom, the country’s leading converged communications service provider, recently launched its Core Values during special events organised for all company employees in Lahore, Karachi, and Islamabad. The events kicked off with the first one held at the Wateen Head Office at Oberoi House in Lahore. Over 700 Wateen employees were in attendance, ranging from office assistants to the Senior Management Team, Wateen CEO Mr Naeem Zamindar, and senior Board Member Mr Zouhair Khaliq. A select group of the company’s Enterprise customers were also invited to attend the explosive, high-energy and fun-filled event. The most significant aspect of the launches was the Value Champions Team, comprising of employees from every tier, segment and background. Following six weeks of ‘living the Values’, Wateen now has a total 100 employees who’ve experienced the benefits of the Values and have become ‘commandos’ who will drive the new culture. Asad Rezzvi, Wateen Chief Transformation Officer, says, “Culture is the source of great strategy. It is the conglomerate of the beliefs of the people. Beliefs drive behaviour and thoughts. With extraordinary beliefs and thoughts come extraordinary actions. Keeping this in mind, we set out to sow the seeds for a high performance culture.” The entire process of defining and creating the Wateen Values took over a year and a half, finally resulting in five final Core Values to be implemented within the organisation: Serve & Enable; Passion, Energy & Fun; Team work & Respect; Ownership & Accountability; and Innovation & Creativity. Each of these values is defined by three specific behaviors, allowing the values to be integrated easily into every day behavior. Commenting on the successful launch, Mr Zamindar said, “For Wateen this marks the dawn of a New Beginning and a sign of our commitment to build a workforce that exemplifies the right attitude, behaviour and mindset of Pakistan’s leading converged communications service provider.” The events consisted of demonstrations, presentations, skits, and other interactive activities aimed at allowing employees to actually experience the Core Values as they might be applied in real life settings. The Lahore event was followed by similarly successful events in Karachi and finally Islamabad. PR
BUSINESS B
KARACHI: Wi-tribe’s much awaited promotions see customers winning the latest tech gadgets, shopping sprees and trips every month. December was no different as wi-tribe gave 15 lucky customers the chance to win the newly introduced iPhone5. Called the Early Bird Promotion, winners were selected from its 5 operating regions Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Faisalabad during the month-long activity. An event held recently saw the winners coming together through video link at the respective wi-tribe offices to celebrate winning together and take home their prizes. As Pakistan’s premier broadband for quality of service and customer satisfaction, these monthly promotions are part of wi-tribe’s customer engagement program for thanking customers for their patronage.
Indus Motors commits USD 50,000 a year to INJAZ Pakistan
positive change which is exhilarated through such alliances. Parvez Ghias, CEO, Indus Motor Company said that the idea behind this initiative was to promote self- employment by empowering youth so that they could build their careers towards a better future. INJAZ Pakistan, an initiative of the Aman Foundation, is a member of Junior Achievement Worldwide and has been established with the objective of fostering, promoting, encouraging and developing entrepreneurial and vocational skills (EVS) among students between the ages of 5 and 25 in Pakistan. It works closely and reports progress to INJAZ al Arab (www.injazalarab.org), which ranks amongst the top 50 NGOs of the world.
EFU Life’s 2012 profit surges by 58%
COMPANY MCB Bank Ltd. Exide (PAK) Philip Morris Pak. Murree Brewery Gillette Pak
HIGH 230.25 321.00 178.50 158.01 149.77
LOW 218.50 312.00 174.00 154.98 142.64
CLOSE 230.23 321.00 178.50 158.01 149.77
CHANGE 10.94 9.00 8.50 7.52 7.13
TURNOVER 687,400 3,200 37,700 52,900 1,500
4250.00 10600.00 320.00 130.15 201.70
4000.00 10500.00 309.01 130.15 186.00
4125.00 10518.18 309.01 130.15 190.12
-75.00 -41.82 -15.99 -6.85 -5.60
40 800 2,400 600 3,400
4.15 7.10 23.97 8.51 19.10
3.72 6.30 23.40 7.70 18.20
3.84 7.10 23.97 8.28 18.94
0.14 1.00 1.14 0.25 0.53
45,798,500 31,638,500 29,819,500 25,686,500 22,894,000
Major Losers Unilever Food UniLever Pak MithchellsFruit XDXB Shield Corporation Pak Services
4200.00 10560.00 325.00 137.00 195.72
Volume Leaders WorldCall Telecom Telecard Limited P.T.C.L.A TRG Pakistan Ltd. Maple Leaf Cement
3.70 6.10 22.83 8.03 18.41
Interbank Rates USD
PKR 98.1486
KARACHI: EFU Life Assurance Ltd, the GBP PKR 149.7159 leading private sector life insurance JPY PKR 1.0508 company in Pakistan announced its EURO PKR 129.7525 financial results for the year ended 31 Forex December 2012 as approved in the meeting of the Board of Directors held on BUY SELL 14 February 2013. The Company US Dollar 99.2 99.5 registered a strong increase in its Australian Dollar 102 103 profitability, with a profit after tax of Rs. Canadian Dollar 97.7 98 914 million for the year 2012 (2011: Rs UK Pound Sterling 154.3 155 578 million). The earnings per share has Euro 132.2 132.7 increased to Rs. 10.75 (2011: Rs. 6.8). Japanese Yen 1.055 1.11 The increased profitability allowed the Saudi Riyal 26.4 26.7 Company to declare a final cash dividend China Yuan 13.5 14 of 40%. and 17.6% Bonus shares for the UAE Dirham 26.95 27.2 year. The Company had already paid an interim cash dividend at half year 2012 of and read sample poetry and prose from the 15%. The total payout for the year is 72.6%: 55% community. Published writers like Musharraf Ali cash dividend and 17.6% Bonus Shares. Due to the Farooqi will be visiting the booth to meet new Bonus share issue, the paid up capital will now writers and to sign books. PR increase to Rs. 1 Billion, making it the highest capitalized life insurance company in the private life insurance sector. EFU Life’s asset base is Rs. 37.9 billion and has the highest insurer financial strength rating of AA- (Outlook: Stable) by JCR VIS Credit rating agency. PR
General Tyre invests Rs 500m in motorcycle tyre and tube production plant KARACHI: General Tyre while showing confidence in Pakistan’s market has invested Rs 500 million in motorcycle tyre production and plant enhancement, which will also create job opportunities in this recessionary period. Chief Executive General Tyre Shahid Hussain announced this investment on the launching ceremony of motorcycle tyres in a press conference on February 22nd. Meanwhile, Chairman GT, Lt. Gen (Retd) Ali Kuli Khan Khattak while speaking on the occasion said that ‘had this company not existed, the government of Pakistan would have had to spend more than $200 million annually on the import of equivalent number of tyres produced by GT alone. The importers on the other hand would have taken advantage of the situation and would have wreaked further havoc on our country’s fragile economy”. He further said that tyre manufacturing is a very expensive and tedious process and lot of funds are required to continually expand, and due to very unfair competition it becomes extremely hard for us to expand and at the same time make only a marginal profit of 2% to 2.5%. PR
Desi Writers Lounge opens
KARACHI: Indus Motor Company (IMC) has committed USD 50,000 per year for the next 3 years to INJAZ Pakistan to support youth entrepreneurship training in Pakistan. The event that was held at the AMANTECH premises in Korangi today was attended by CEO IMC, Mr. Parvez Ghias, CEO Aman Foundation Ahsan Jamil, Executive Director INJAZ Pakistan Azra Maqsood, Manager Corporate Planning IMC Atif Ahmed, GM Marketing Aman Foundation Sukayna Sadik and Program Manager INJAZ Pakistan Sitvat Jamal. Mr. Ahsan Jamil thanked Mr. Parvez Ghias for their generous contribution. Looking forward to more partnerships that involved community building, he asserted that sustainable development is a key to
OPEN 219.29 312.00 170.00 150.49 142.64
Desi Writers Lounge is a one-of-a-kind platform for new writers from South Asia. It is an online community for new writers to post their work for peer review, and runs a free online magazine (called Papercuts) to showcase new talent from the region. DWL is a not-for-revenue project. Every service it provides is for free. It is self funded by its core team members. In 2012, Desi Writers Lounge organized its first short story competition and received entries from South Asian writers around the globe. The top ten stories from this competition will be released as an anthology. From 2013, DWL will be offering a prize of Rs.50, 000 (called the Dastaan Award) to one winner from its short story competition. Offline, Desi Writers Lounge has organized writers’ meets, book club meetings, readings and open mics for its members. DWL will have a booth at the Lahore Literary Festival on February 23rd and 24th. The booth will be a space for writers to mingle, get information about DWL
First Stage of Commercial Operations Commences at CPSL
HONG KONG: Cathay Pacific Services Limited (CPSL), the wholly owned subsidiary of Cathay Pacific Airways established to design, build and operate the new Cathay Pacific Cargo Terminal at Hong Kong International Airport, announced that the first stage of operations at the terminal commenced today. The first consignment of airfreight, carried by flight CX138 of Cathay Pacific from Sydney, Australia, arrived at the new terminal at 05:09 today. The advanced Materials Handling System and Warehouse Operating System deployed at the facility have been working seamlessly to ensure the efficient handling of cargo on the first day of operation, helped by the Government bodies and business partners stationed in the terminal. Cathay Pacific Services Ltd Chief Executive Officer Algernon Yau and other senior executives witnessed today’s landmark moment at the huge HK$5.9 billion facility. Mr Yau said: “A new chapter in Hong Kong’s role as a leading international air cargo hub began today when commercial operations commenced at the Cathay Pacific Cargo Terminal. A combination of advanced technology and operational strength will mean that customers can benefit from extended cutoff times, last-minute cargo acceptance and a reduced connection time for transhipments. The minimum connection time for transhipments in Hong Kong will be reduced from the current eight hours to five hours, and our ultimate goal is to reduce this to three hours. Now that our terminal is in operation, we will be working tirelessly to enhance Hong Kong’s position as the hub of choice.” PR