PRO 26-10-2012_Layout 1 10/26/2012 3:38 AM Page 1
Friday, 26 October, 2012
No misfortune for Lucky g
EXPORT IN FIRST QUARTER
Vegetable up, fruit down
Lucky Cement records 33.79% increase in net profit for the 1st quarter KARACHI
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UCky Cement Limited declared a profit after tax of Rs. 2,014 million for the quarter ending 30th September 2012, which is 33.79% higher than last year’s first quarter net profit of Rs. 1,506 million. A statement here on Thursday said that the Earnings per Share (EPS) of the Company increased to Rs. 6.23 per share versus Rs. 4.66 per share achieved in the same period last year. It said that the gross profit for Lucky Cement, which is Pakistan’s largest cement manufacturer increased by 32.87% during the quarter as its net sales revenue improved by 18.09% to Rs. 8,852 million against Rs. 7,496 million of the same period last year. Higher sales volume in the domestic markets in line with the company’s strategy attributed to the increased profits. The local sales volume during the quarter under review registered a
Pakistan’s liquid foreign reserves over $14b
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The total liquid foreign reserves held by the country stood at $ 14,389.8 million on October 19, 2012, a statement of the Central Bank issued on Thursday said. Giving the break-up of the foreign reserves position, the statement said that Foreign reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan stood at $ 9,829.4 million while the Net foreign reserves held by banks (other than SBP) were recorded at $ 4,560.4 million as on October 19,2012. “The total liquid foreign reserves stood at US $ 14,389.8 million”, the statement added.
growth of 5% that rose to 0.86 million tons sold as compared to 0.82 million tons sold during the same period last year. However, the export sales volume declined by 9% from 0.62 million tonnes to 0.56 million tons during the first quarter ending 30th September 2012. This was mainly due to intentional focus on the domestic markets, which contributed in increasing the overall profitability of the company. The company also managed to decrease its financing cost by 76 % during the quarter under review as compared to the same period last year. The Company also reported progress on its Joint Venture investment for Cement Plant in DR Congo where plant and machinery has been negotiated and finalized with a renowned European supplier, and on its Joint Venture investment for a Grinding facility in Iraq where the teams for the project have been mobilized at the site. As a part of its diversification strategy and following on from the signing of Share Purchase Agreement with Akzo Nobel N.V. for acquisition of ICI
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Pakistan shares, the company also reported the net purchase price of Rs. 186.42 per share, finalized on October 11th 2012 as per the Lock Box Mechanism agreed in the SPA. As a responsible corporate citizen, Lucky Cement also disclosed its efforts
towards education with various scholarships given to students in local and international universities, as well as in the health sector with donations to a charitable organization for providing medical treatments to poor and needy people of Pakistan.
SECP turns environmentalist g
Strong regulatory environment vital for corporatisation of economy: SECP ISLAMABAD ONLINE
There is strong need for strengthening of regulatory environment in Pakistan for the development of a modern corporate sector, Chairman, Security and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) Muhammad Ali said. He was addressing the participants of a workshop” Economic Reporting on Financial Development Index”, organized by the SECP here Thursday. AGAHI and CIME were the collaborating partners for the event. The workshop aimed at briefing the business journalists regarding ways and methods to analysis the various economic indicators. Amir Jhangir, CEO Mishal, Mrs Puruesh Chaudhary, CIME Ambassador to Pakistan. Senior journalists Amir Zia and Ehtisham-ul-Haq gave their presentations on reportage of economy. Briefing the journalists on financial market reforms and regulatory framework of the SECP, Muhammad Ali said that the SECP has been establishing high standard of governance across the capital market to generate greater investor confidences. Muhammad Ali said that in past the government’s attitude has been to not
allow small and medium sized companies and risky ventures which resulted in accumulation of assets with banks and national savings. He pointed out that in Pakistan, banking sector and National Savings have 90 per cent of total assets of the financial sector. Oftentimes, entrepreneurs are not entertained by our banking –centric financial system and it is not possible to raise money from other sources. In a bid to enhance access to finance and develop a debt capital market, the Secp has introduced various new concepts like SME exchanges, pension’s schemes, micro-insurance for crops and livestock and commodity trading facility to mutual funds, where the small investors would utilized their savings. He emphasized on need for raising people awareness and education regarding capital market and mentioned that during last one decade the return percentage was 20 per cent in gold and it was 30 per cent for investments made in stock market. The other areas, where the SECP has been focusing are access to capital, widening of product portfolio in stock exchanges, good governance and reforms and improving the standards of human resources of capital market. Amir Jhangir, CEO Mishal briefed
the participants about the procedure adopted by the World Economic Forum in the development of Financial Development Index. Amir said that the Index assembles a vast amount of data to create an assessment of the different aspects of\ complex financial systems, including the institutional environment, the business environment, financial stability, banks, capital markets, and overall capital availability and access. Senior Journalist Amir Zia encouraged the journalist to use social media to report their news. He said that the Pakistan has lost its position in World Financial Index in past years and journalists should report on reasons that contributing in decline in Pakistan’s ranking in Global Financial Index. The interactive session covered various subjects including editorial balance and content evaluation, scope of business reporting in Pakistan and economic reforms. Recently, the Global Competitiveness Report (2012-13) issued by the World Economic Forum has appreciated the performance of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) as the SECP has been ranked 55th in 2012-13, as compared to 70th in 2011-12.
The export of vegetables has increased by 3.4 percent during the first quarter of the current fiscal year as compared to the same period of last year. The exports were recorded at US$26.716 million during July-September (2012-13) against the exports of US$25.838 million during July-September (2011-12), according to the data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. The vegetable exports witnessed surge 18.46 percent during the month of September 2012 as against the exports of the same month of last year. However the vegetable exports during September 2012 shrunk by 23.79 percent when compared to the exports of August 2012. According to the data, the total vegetable exports during September 2012 stood at US$ 8.003 million against the exports of US$6.756 million in September 2011 and US$10.501 in August 2012. On the other hand, the fruit exports in the first quarter of the current year decreased by 4.24 percent to US$61.714 million when compare to the exports of US$64.447 million recorded in the same period of last year. The exports of fruit in September 2012 decreased by 3.19 percent and 21.59 percent when compared to the exports of Septemer 2011 and August 2012 respectively. The fruit exports during September 2012 stood at US$ 20.510 million against the exports of US$21.185 million in September 2011 and US$26.158 in August 2012. The overall food exports were recorded at US$878.680 million in the quarter under review against the exports of US$993.352 million during the same period of last year. 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, indicating a positive trends in the overall trade volume of the country. Exports from the country during July-September (2012) 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.
Cotton exports declining due to unavailability of cotton seed ISLAMABAD ONLINE
A parliamentary Panel on Thursday was informed that certified cotton seed is not available in the country therefore cotton exports of the country are declining. During a meeting of Senate Subcommittee on Textile Industry that was held under the chair of senator Mohsin laghari to discuss issues of textile sector and to make recommendations for the resolution of those issues. During the meeting chairman Pakistan Cotton ginner association PCGA told the committee that cotton seeds are imported from abroad and under certain names sold at expensive rates
in the country. He said that imported seeds are not well compatible with our lands therefore they give less production and leaves bad impacts on whole industry. He said that it is very unfortunate that certified cotton seed in not available in the country and in this regard our institutes have been failed. Chairman Pakistan Cotton Ginners association said that good quality seed is not available in the country therefore not only industry suffers but country faces loss of billion of rupees. Convener of the committee Mohsin Laghari said that we should not put all the responsibility on government to take steps for improvement of cotton and textile industry in the country but market forces should
also do works. Chairman Pakistan knitwear and sweater exporters association said that energy shortage is badly affecting the entire textile industry in the country and during last six month sixteen to seventeen textile units from karachi have been shifted to other countries. He said that non availability of gas and power resulted into30% loss into our textile production. Chairman Pakistan knitwear and sweater exporters association said that government should provide gas to the export industry of the country on priority basis. He said that whole industry does not demands any kind of subsidy from the government but we always demanded is to provide smooth supply of gas and power.