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Wednesday, 24 October, 2012
‘CNG price in Pakistan highest in region’ ISLAMABAD
T
ONLINE
HE All Pakistan CNG Association (APCNGA) on Tuesday said price of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) in Pakistan is highest in the region therefore it must brought down in line with other countries in the national interest. Decisions affecting CNG sector are not taken on merit but on the whims of powerful oil lobby which wants to boost its business, said Ghyas Abdullah Paracha, Chairman, Supreme Council of APCNGA. Speaking at a hurriedly-called meeting here, he said that CNG sector needs immediate attention of authorities as billions have been invested in it, 3.5 million cars have been converted while millions are directly and indirectly employed in this sector. Prices of CNG in Pakistan should match other
Let’s follow Europe Mango exporters asked to follow regulations of European countries MULTAN APP
The mango exporters will have to follow regulations to boost mango export in European market so that maximum foreign exchange could be earn. Addressing a seminar titled ‘Export of Mango to French Market’ here on Tuesday, Mango Growers Association, Multan president, Major (Retd) Tariq said that only disease-free mango should be sent to the French market or other European countries by taking special care of the rules and regulations of theirs. Agriculture experts from Faisalabad and Multan informed the progressive mango growers that Pakistan was the fifth largest mango producer in the world and its mango export earning was far below than its potential due to the issues involved in the post-harvest handling of the fruit. A kilogram of mango can fetch Rs 350 from French market if all requirements of the importing country are met, they added. Multan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) president Muhammad Khan Saddozai said that mango exporters must avail the advisory services of MCCI to enhance exports.
countries where buying power of the masses is more or less the same, it said. He said that gas is an indigenous resource which economical and clean as compare to imported fuels which are costly and unfriendly to environment. Ghyas Abdullah Paracha informed that price of CNG in Thailand in 76.70 per cent less as compare to price of petrol. Similarly, in Bangladesh, CNG is available at 68.61 per cent lesser price, Indonesia 51.65 per cent and in India it is 58.84 per cent of the cost of petrol. Many countries including India and
Bangladesh don’t have any indigenous substitute for gasoline; they lack proper gas infrastructure but they sell CNG at low price as compare to Pakistan despite importing Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and paying for conversion to enable it for use in vehicles. As a policy, US and many EU countries have been promoting use of gas to reduce dependence on imported fossil fuels due to uncertainty in supply chain, volatility in prices, and save foreign exchange, he said adding that many countries are doing away with expensive LPG but here CNG sector is being closed to
boost import of costly fuel. Total consumption of CNG sector is Pakistan not more than 8 per cent, it is paying more taxes as compare to any other sector using gas, yet it is being victimized while some other influential sectors are promoted despite the fact that immediate conversion of those sectors on other fuels in the national interest, Paracha observed. He informed that before 2002, there was a ban on running thermal power plants on CNG. It was Musharraf era when country started running power stations on clean fuel despite scarcity. This decision resulted in depletion of precious gas reserves which took toll on masses and economy, deprived industry of economical fuel, and contributed to rapid environmental degradation, he added. Government can consider reversing that decision, demanded Ghyas Paracha.
Food imports shrink 6.35 % in first quarter ISLAMABAD APP
Food imports decreased by 6.35 percent during the first quarter of the current fiscal year as compared to the corresponding period of last year. The over all imports of food group were recorded at US$1.179 billion during July-September (2012-13) against the imports of US$1.259 billion in JulySeptember (2011-12), according to the data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). The products that witnessed decrease in trade included sugar, imports of which fell from US$6.671 million last year to US$1.641 million. Similarly, the imports of spices and tea decreased by 26.30 percent and 19.47 percent respectively, the PBS data revealed. The imports of spices were recorded at US$19.118 million against the imports of US$25.939 million while the imports of tea were recorded at US$68.549 million against the imports of US$85.119 million. Imports of dry fruits and nuts decreased from US$21.068 million last year to US$1.938 million, showing neg-
ative growth of 2.60 percent. Palm oil imports also decreased by 10.34 percent during the period under review by going down from US$653.603 million to US$586.021 million while the imports of all other food products witnessed negative growth of by 3.28 percent by declining from US$289.933 million to US$280.424 million. The food products that witnessed positive growth in trade included milk, cream and milk food for infants, imports of which increased by 9.87 percent by going up from US$ 40.315 million to US$44.293 million. Imports of soyabean oil increased
from US$26.457 million to US$37.208 million, showing growth of 40.64 percent. Imports of pulses (leguminous vegetables) increased by 10.33 percent by going up from US$110.401 million last year to US$121.806 million. It is pertinent to mention here that the overall exports from the country witnessed positive growth of 4.26 percent while the imports decreased by 2.37 percent during the first quarter of the current fiscal year, indicating a positive trends in the overall trade volume of the country. Exports from the country during July-September (2012-13) were recorded at US$6.187 billion against the exports of US$5.934 billion during the same period of last year. On the other hand, the imports into the country decreased from US$11.117 billion last year to US$10.853 billion during the current fiscal year, the data revealed. Based on these figures, the overall trade deficit has been recorded at 9.9 percent as it shrunk reduced from the deficit of US$5.183 billion last year to US$4.666 this year.
Another 5 billion please? PSM wants government to release Rs 5 billion more of bailout package
KARACHI STAFF REPORT
Chief Executive Officer of Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) Major General (R) Muhammad Javed has called upon the federal government to release another Rs 5 billion of the bailout package so the consistency in PSM’s production could be maintained. The request was made by the CEO PSM while addressing a function at the office of Pakistan Steel People’s Workers Union (CBA) for the announcement of Charter of Demand of the workers for the year 2010-12. He said the production capacity of the Mills would be increased after the arrival of raw material till mid November and would reach up to 45pc in January 2013. He said the first installment of bailout package, Pakistan Steel opened three LCs of raw material two coal ships and one iron ore ship which would be utilized to boost the production up to 45pc, and next shipments would be purchased soon after the second installment of bailout package. He said the PSM management would request the federal government to release another Rs 5 billion so that the consistency in production could be maintained. He expressed satisfaction that the Mills plants were in good condition. The CEO announced that the Mills would be able to repay to the government after two years when its production capacity would be enhanced to 1.5 million tones per year. He warned that the misuse of PSM resources should be stopped as the Mills cannot afford any further embezzlement or waste of resources when it was already in crisis. Jawed assured the workers that he would not fire any single person from the PSM saying there must be accountability at every level. “We should start accountability from our own,” he remarked. The chief executive pledged that the PSM would be revived and made profitable within next 12 to 18 months as per approved business plan and its expansion would also be made soon.
NBP likely to report Rs 13.3b profit after tax g
NML to register PAT to Rs 1.1b (EPS Rs3.06) in 1QFY13 g LUCK to post bottomline growth of phenomenal 46%YoY KARACHI STAFF REPORT
Following the general performance of the banking sector in current environment, the National Bank of Pakistan is expected to show a growth of 16%YoY in its bottom line by reporting after tax profit of Rs13.3bn for 9MCY12 against a profit after tax of Rs11.4bn in 9MCY11. This translates into EPS of Rs7.17. “This significant increase in earnings is due to higher non-interest income that is anticipated to grow by 33%YoY along with decline in provisioning of 17%,” said the analysts at InvestCap Research. The non-interest expense is expected to rise by 13%YoY. However, Net interest
income (NII) of the bank is expected to decline by 4%YoY from Rs33bn in 9MCY11 to Rs32bn in 9MCY12. Fee, commission, brokerage income and dividend income are expected to remain major supporter for the bottomline of the bank and are foresee to grow by 6%YoY and 135%YoY respectively. On sequential basis, NBP is expected to post after tax profit of Rs5.07bn (EPS: Rs2.74) for 3QCY12 as against the PAT of Rs3.3bn reported during the same period of last year, translating into a growth of 53%YoY. Currently NBP trades at CY12 PBV and P/E of 0.61x and 4.32x respectively and we recommended ‘Buy’ stance with Dec-12 target price of Rs65/shares. Nishat Mills Limited (NML) is sched-
uled to announce its first quarter fiscal year 2013 results on Thursday, 25th Oct12. NML is expected to post PAT of Rs1.1bn (EPS Rs3.06) in 1QFY13 as compared to Rs1.0bn (EPS Rs2.93) in 1QFY12, posting a modest growth of 4.5%YoY in the bottomline. The increase in bottomline is expected on the back of improving gross margins as low cotton prices on local front are expected to improve margins of different value added products during 1QFY13. We expect gross margins to clock in at 17% in 1QFY13 as against 10.7% in same period last year. Likewise, 8.9%YoY depreciation in PKR against USD is likely to help the company in improving its export sales’ margins. Furthermore, dividend income from MCB
and PakGen power is anticipated to add significant amount to the other income head coupled with low financial charges due to decline in working capital requirements. With Dec-12 TP of Rs65/share on SOTP basis, we recommend ‘Hold’ on NML. The company is currently trading at PE ratio of 6.4x with dividend yield of 6.3% on FY13 earning expectations. Lucky Cement Company (LUCK) is scheduled to announce its quarterly accounts for the first quarter of fiscal year 2013 onThursday, October 25, 2012. We expect the company to post profit after tax (PAT) of Rs2,201mn (bottomline up by massive 46%YoY), translating into EPS of Rs6.81. The phenomenal rise wit-
nessed in the bottomline of the company is to be primarily supported by handsome 7%YoY escalation in the retention price of the commodity coupled with expectation of attractive 13%YoY volumetric growth in the company’s dispatches. Positivity is seen to be further supported by 28%YoY dip in the global coal prices that in effect are foreseen to have enhanced gross margins of the company. The gross margins during the period under review are expected to be bolstered by 2pps in comparison against the corresponding period previous year. We have ‘Buy’ recommendation on LUCK, as currently the share is offering potential upside of colossal ~28% against our per share target price of Rs179.