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Another blazing bull surge liftsindex up 125 points Page 03

Thursday, 29 March, 2012

W hILe there can be no two viewsregarding the government’s bunglingof the energy problem, Islamabad

must also accept blame for failing to foreseefinancial and social losses from the presentrioting. Surely they did not expect to keepkicking the can down the road all the way toelection time. That would amount toinsulting the same public’s intelligence thatbrought them to office. On the other hand,surely they didn’t expect to keep promisingand not delivering all through their term inoffice. That, too, would insult ourintelligence. What, then, is theproblem?Unfortunately, the answer is lost inas circular a web as the debt that is central tothe issue. But there is broad consensus thatit boils down to a question of simple politicalwill. Now that’s been a touchy topic for thisadministration right through the last halfdecade. It didn’t come down hard on PSesfor fear of alienating political cadres, forexample. The result is a hemorrhagingeconomy that might alone suffice to losethem the election. Nobody in Islamabad (orKarachi for that matter) put his foot down tocurb the government’s addiction to debt.Little surprise then that the window ofopportunity for private sector expansion hasgone begging. Simply put, time’s come whenliving to fight another day amounts toshooting yourself in the foot. The highest,and most influential, offices of thegovernment must immediately do whateveris necessary to get a handle on the energymess. Mob psyche is a volatile phenomenonno matter how subtle the stimulant. Withevery alternate hour of load shedding – andoften much more so – the rioting will nowturn worse, which means more millions inlosses for a government already choked bydeficits and debt. Yet again its incompetencehas cost the people dear.

QuIck EdIT

The riotingbegins

ISLAMABADAMER SIAL

AFTeR the ditching of theChinese led consortium toundertake Iran-Pakistan(IP) gas pipeline project due

to stern US warnings, Pakistan has de-cided to approach Russian energygiant Gazprom for the construction ofthe pipeline.

Secretary Petroleum ejaz Chaud-hary talking to journalists on Wednes-day said that a Pakistani delegationwill be visiting Moscow on April 2 tohold two days talks with Gazprom forlaying IP pipeline. he said the discus-sion will also include financing of theproject. he said if the deal materializesit would be on the government to gov-ernment basis.

Russian firm, he said, is keen todevelop the IP project and has alreadysubmitted expression of Interest lastyear for the project. Pakistan andGazprom have already singed a Mem-orandum of Understanding (MoU) onthe project in 2005. If the projectmoves ahead, Pakistan will import 750million cubic feet of gas per day for 25years from Iran.

Gazprom, he said has assured Pak-istan its willingness for the construc-tion of IP pipeline as well asTurkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project.Gazprom owns the world’s largest gastransmission network and sells morethan half of overall produced gas toRussian consumers and exports gas tomore than 30 countries within and be-yond the former Soviet Union. Russianfirm pursues the strategic objective of

establishing itself as a leader amongglobal energy companies by enteringnew markets, diversifying its activitiesand ensuring reliable supplies.

About the import of POL productsfrom India, he said that the matter wasdiscussed with his Indian counterpartat the sidelines of the 7th Asia Gas con-ference in New Delhi. he said that thematter could be resolved after Pakistanformally grants MFN status to India.

Secretary Petroleum said both thecountries will be holding talks on POL

imports in the third week of April.Pakistan plans to import petrol and lu-bricants from India but it was still sub-ject of MFN approval. he said POLimports from India will decrease theinland freight equalization margin(IFeM) by 35 percent.

In reply to a question of TAPIpipeline, he said the four participatingcountries will be meeting on April 19to finalise the various remaining issuesfor the execution of the project. hesaid Pakistan has proposed to India

that it will be charging the same transitfee as she will be giving to Afghanistan.he hinted that the price would bearound 50 cents per million BritishThermal Units (mmBTU).

he said India has appreciated Pak-istan’s suggestion but has yet not ac-cepted the proposal. he saidAfghanistan has refused to purchaseTAPI gas, therefore India and Pakistanwere interested to purchase additionalgas and an Indian delegation will visitPakistan to discuss the matters.

To Russia with loveg Pakistan to hold talks with Russian Gazprom for IP project on April 2

KARACHIISMAIL DILAWAR

The economists see the troubledeconomy being taken hostageby the politics in the crisis-hitPakistan where the cash-

strapped government’s budgetary bor-rowings from the risk-averse banks haveswelled beyond Rs 900 billion up to 16thof the current month.

According to central bank, from July 1to March 16 the funds-starved governmentborrowed Rs 923.031 billion from the cen-tral and commercial banks to cater its ever-burgeoning budgetary needs. This shows amassive increase, in the government bankloans, of 116 percent or Rs 496 billion whencompared with last year’s correspondingperiod. “The economy of Pakistan has beenhostage to politics and the war on terror-ism,” said senior economist Shahid hasanSiddiqui. The economist said the PPP-ledcoalition government was prioritizing theWar on Terror and was more focused onpolitical face-offs with the judiciary or itsrivals from the opposition or allied parties.

“If this situation is allowed to con-tinue any further, there will be a disasterfor the economy,” warned Siddiqui. Thecountry will fast move towards an eco-nomic crisis, hyperinflation and a possibledefault in the payment of external loans,”

having been denied funding from theIMF and other international financers andinvestors, the resource-constrained fed-eral and provincial governments are heav-ily relying on domestic financing from thebanks. During the review period, the gov-ernment auctioned the heavily-weightedtreasury bills, Pakistan Investment Bondsand Ijara Sukuk to raise Rs 235.548 billionand Rs 687.483 billion from the centraland scheduled banks, respectively.

Despite government’s claim of notopting for the inflationary practice of bor-rowing form the State Bank, which makesthe regulator print new currency notes, itsborrowings from the SBP remained exor-bitant and surged by 161 percent or Rs145.174 billion compared to same periodin FY11. The loans from the commercialbanks, which are investing more in therisk-free government securities amid thecurrent recessionary climate, also bal-looned by 104 percent.

This heavy investment in the govern-ment securities has doubled the profits ofthe banks which, according to SBP, cur-rently hold liquidity worth Rs 29.774 bil-lion in excess to their Cash Reserve Ratio.The banks’ advances to private sector arereducing as a leading commercial bankcounted its gross advances at Rs 248.135billion in 2011, marking a decrease of ninepercent over 2010. This, the bank ob-

served, was “mainly on account of conver-sion of commodity financing/circular debtexposure to risk-free government securi-ties”. The bank’s investment portfolio,however, increased considerably by Rs103.6 billion over 2010 with higher con-centration in the risk-free government se-curities. “What kind of banking is this?The banks are taking money from the de-positors at 5 percent markup and lendingthe same to the government at around 12percent interest,” said economist Siddiqui.

Given this situation, the economistsaid, the banks were in no need to extendadvances to the growth-oriented but riskyprivate sector when they were earning 7percent without lifting a finger. “The StateBank should restrict the banks’ invest-ment in government securities,” he voicedthe demand also made by the bankingstalwarts like hussain Lawai, currentlyworking as the president and CeO Sum-mit Bank. If the banks current with theircurrent risk-averse behavior, the econo-mist said, who else would lend to thetrade, industry and agriculture.

“Resultantly, the GDP growth wouldslowdown reflecting adversely on the em-ployment opportunities,” said Siddiqui.The analyst said the politico-diplomati-cally-embattled democratic governmentwould have to do away with downplayingthe foreseeable economic disaster.

Countdown to extinctiong Economic gloom ahead as govt allows war on terror to hold economy hostage g Govt’s budgetary borrowings from banks cross Rs923bn during July-March g Over Rs687b, Rs235b lent by scheduled, centralbanks g Banks’ advances to private sector deplete amid higher concentration in risk-free govt securities

Secretary Petroleum and Natural

Resources, Ejaz Chaudhry met his

counterpart GC Chaturvedi in New

Delhi during his recent visit to India.

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news02Thursday, 29 March, 2012

KARACHIGHULAM ABBAS

The crisis stricken PakistanSteel Mills (PSM) has decidedto take legal action againstKarachi electric Supply

Company (KeSC) which hasdisconnected the power supply to the millwhile broking its prior signed agreementwith the mill.KeSC has disconnected the electricitysupply to the country’s largest, stateowned Steel producing plant- PSM, onTuesday evening due to, what thecompany claims, non-payment of Rs 210million dues. The country’s only steel millwhich is already being run below 20percent of production capacity for the last

few months owing to huge financiallosses and shortage of credit to purchaseraw material, has also hard hit by thefresh move.According to official sources at PSM, itwas a deliberate treachery effort todamage the national exchequer as thecompany on legal way has no right todisconnect the supply in the presence of amutual signed agreement. While stronglycondemning the disconnection of power,they said that KeSC and PSM havealready signed a valid mutual businessrelation agreement in 1982 according towhich both parties were agreed toprovide services to each other, KeSCwould provide the electricity while PSMwould charge right of way charges, waterand gas supply charges to KeSC stations.

According to its clause- 6© of thisagreement: “KeSC and Pakistan Steel willsubmit their respective bills to eitherparty for billing month, by the end of thefollowing month.30 days time will beallowed for the payment after submissionof bill and acknowledgement of itsreceipt. In case bill is not paid within 60days of the date of submission/acknowledgement, interest at bank ratewill be paid by the defaulting party.”It is clear from the agreement that in caseof non payment from either party there isno disconnection of services. Besides,KeSC provided the current bill of Rs. 210Million for the month of Feb 2012 to PSMon 14th March 2012, with the due date of20th March instead of 14th May 2012 ofRupees 210 Million, and then during

negotiations for payment of the bill,KeSC disconnected the electric supply ofPSM which directly effected theproduction units and thickly populatedresidential area of Steel Town andGulshan e hadeed.According to PSM KeSC is an indebtedorganization of rupees 120 million toPSM, and not paid their bills from lastseveral years, so how could they do suchan act of disconnecting power supply tothe national entity, while on the otherhand PSM has paid all the previous billsfor which even a single rupee is payableby PSM. They further said that the powerdisconnection cause a loss of about Rs.120 Million per day to Pakistan Steel, asthe important production units of PSMhot Strip Mill and Cold Rolling Mills

have been shutdown and major finishedproducts of PSM cannot be producedand neither sold out. The spokesmansaid that KeSC is solely responsible forthis illegal act and the losses to nationalexchequer. PSMC managementpreparing to take legal action againstKeSC and to claim damages occurreddue to disconnection of power. Theofficials of PSM said that this nonprofessional and unethical act of KeSCmanagement shows that they do notrealized that they have to pay about Rs.120 Million to Pakistan Steel and PSMnever tried to withdraw their facilitieswhich shows a responsible behavior ofPSM, also last year PSM is the one whoprovided advance billing to KeSC fortheir fuel charges on their request.

ISLAMABADAMER SIAL

ChAIRMAN Securities and ex-change Commission of Pakistan(SeCP) Muhammad Ali said onWednesday the approval of the

demutualization of stock exchanges billwill help end the reign of the stock marketbrokers by segregating the ownership andtrading rights at the exchanges. Address-ing a press conference, he said one of themajor advantages of the demutualizationwill be that the brokers will not have 100percent ownership, as a certain percent-age of shareholding will remain with thebrokers, but the strategic investors andpeople will also be able to obtain share-holding of the stock exchanges.

Giving major advantages of demutu-alization, Chairman SeCP said the super-vision and enforcement functions willbecome more effective. The new member-ship will not open for a period of at leastthree and half years after demutualizationof exchanges. The new member ship willopen after the specified time period. Inthe next 4-5 years a number of investorswill come into the stock exchanges.

he said that an investment bank ofinternational repute will be appointed for

evaluation of the stock exchanges afterdemutualization. he said present 200 fi-nancially sound brokers have obtainedmembership of stock exchange, whereas150 members were active. These brokersare engaged in trading as well as settle-ment of shares. Following demutualiza-tion, the active members will be at least200. Responding to a query on themerger of stock exchanges, Chairmansaid the merger will be the decision of thestock exchanges. Under the long termstrategy, stock exchanges have to thinkabout the merger which will be for thebenefit of the shareholders of the ex-changes. The stock exchanges desirous ofintegration or to merge into one entitywill be required to submit scheme of in-tegration to the commission. The com-mission shall have the powers to approvethe scheme of integration and effectuatetransfer of rights and obligations as if thescheme was approved by the court.

The parliament had approved theStock exchanges Corporatization, Demu-tualization and Integration Bill on Tues-day. Within a time period of four months,the stock exchanges will be corporatizedand demutualized. The status of the stockexchanges would be changed from guar-antee limited to public limited company.

This public limited company will be listedon the stock exchanges. The demutual-ization will convent mutually ownedcompany to a company owned by theshareholders. This will convert stock ex-change limited by guarantee into the onelimited by shares but also segregatesownership and trading rights.

Another major feature of the demutu-alization of exchanges is that the compo-sition of the board of directors of the stockexchanges will be changed. Thus, demu-tualization would bring balance among in-terest of different stakeholders in thecorporate and governance structure of astock exchange. The outreach of the capi-tal market would be expanded attractinginvestors in the small cities and far flungareas of the country. The demutualizedexchanges will end the conflict of interest.The stock exchanges management, boardand shareholding will become independ-ent. After demutualization, out of 10 direc-tors, six directors will be nominated by theSeCP from private sector whereas the re-maining four directors would be elected.

Presently, members of stock exchangeshave the ownership as well as trading rights.This structure inherently creates conflict ofinterest as members predominantly controlthe affairs of the stock exchange which re-

sults in lack of transparency in the opera-tions of the stock exchange and compro-mises investors’ interest.

The brokers control will also beended because they have to be requiredto fulfill the stringent fit and proper cri-teria and cannot have automatic tradingrights by virtue of being member of theexchange. The management of the stockexchanges would be able to work inde-pendently without being influenced bybrokers which is good omen for investorsas well as general public. Under the newshareholding structure after divestment,upto 40 percent shares would be offeredto the strategic investors and local finan-cial institutions. General pubic would notbe offered less than 20 percent sharesand 40 percent shares would be offeredto the brokers. In this way, there wouldbe shareholding of the general public inthe stock market after demutualization.After demutualization of stock ex-changes, the only way to increase thevalue of the shares is by increasing prof-itability of the stock exchanges. Whengeneral public will come into the stockexchanges, the confidence of the in-vestors on the exchanges will be furtherincreased and values of the shares wouldshow further improvement.

Revised, corporised and demutualised Special Auditreveals grossviolation of SoP by PTAg Authority fails to cancel

licences of governmentdefaulters

ISLAMABADGNI

The Special Audit of PakistanTelecommunication Authority (PTA)2010 has pointed out gross violation

of Standard Operating Procedures (SoP) bythe Authority as it failed to cancel thelicenses of government defaulters who hadbeen in default even since 1997-98.It reveals that quite contrary to SoP, no letterwas issued on 31 May each year by theauthority for the renewal of license to thelicensees nor such letters were shown to bewritten.Out of the total Rs.100.19 millionoutstanding dues, the authority hasrecovered just Rs.3.8 million which is 3.7percent of total outstanding dues, the reportsaid adding it clearly indicates weakreceivable management and poorperformance of the PTA.It also revealed that PTV presented thecheque amounting to Rs.228, 100 to theAuthority on 2.6.2011, however it wasreturned by the bank on 10.6.2011 due toinsufficient balance and the Authority did nottake any action in this regard.According to SoP regarding outstanding duesduly circulated among, all the concerned arerequired to be issued a letter for renewal oflicense by 31 May each year requiring thelicensee to pay annual spectrum charges forthe next financial year in advance by 30June.If the licensee fails to get license renewedwithin the grace period of two months, thenits license shall stand cancelled by 31 Augustautomatically without further notice andassigned spectrum shall be revoked andsurrendered to Frequency Allocation Board(FAB). PTA shall send the licensecancellation letter to licensee with a copy toFinance Division. The SoP also provides thatthe Finance Division of PTA shall provide alist of the RBS licensee who have not paidtheir dues to RBS Directorate of PTA by15September each year and RBS Directorateshall finalize the list of such licensees andsubmit it for the information and approval ofthe authority. It says that the statement ofgovernment defaulters showed that thedepartments had been in default since 1997-98 but their licenses were not cancelled andassigned spectrum was not revoked andsurrendered to FAB as required in the SoP.The record further revealed that FinanceDivision of PTA did not provide a list of thoseRBS licensees who have not paid their duesto RBS Directorate by 15September of eachyear as required in the SoP.

g demutualisation of stock exchanges to help flourish share trade

KARACHI, ISMAIL DILAWAR

The benchmark 100-shareindex would witness a 0.83basis point impact as theKarachi Stock exchange

(KSe) Wednesday replaced two ap-parently bad-performing listed firmsin line with market capitalizationrules of the exchange.

“In aggregate, two companieswill be affected due to re-compositionprocess,” said a KSe notice madepublic here on Wednesday.

The companies affected by there-composition carried out by theKSe for the review period rangingfrom September 2011 to February2012, are Javedan Corporation Lim-ited and International IndustriesLimited. While those replacing theabove two include engro Foods Lim-ited and Fauji Cement CompanyLimited whose financial weightwould increase total market capital-ization of the recomposed index to93.14 percent.

“The recomposed index, basedon the prices of February 29 (2012)will capture the market capitalization

to the extent of 93.14 percent of thetotal market capitalization as com-pared to 92.31 percent of the currentindex,” said the KSe notice.

The re-composed index would beeffective from the 2nd of next month,April. The Re-Composition Rules ofKSe-100 Index require the exchangeto place and remove the listed firmson the benchmark in accordance withthe size of their market capitalization.

March 30 last year had seen theKSe removing three bed performingcompanies from the benchmarkindex that included Fauji CementCompany, WorldCall Telecom andKASB Bank Limited. These were re-placed by Fatima Fertilizer Com-pany Limited, Agritech Limited andIndus Dyeing and ManufacturingCompany Limited.

Of the three excluded companies,Fauji Cement Company is a firmwhich this year, 2012, retained its lostposition on the index by replacing In-ternational Industries Limited.

The revised list of 100 companiesrepresented on the 100-share indexcomprises listed firms from varioussectors. Of the 100 firms 15 are frombanking sector; 10 from oil and gas

sector; 11 from chemical sector; sevenfrom food sector; six from non-lifeinsurance sector; five from construc-tion and materials; five from generalindustries; five from personal goods;five from electricity; three from auto-mobile and parts; two from industrialengineering; two from tobacco sec-tor, two from Pharma and Biotech;three from travel and leisure; twofrom gas water and multiutilities andone each from forestry and paper, in-dustrial metals and mining, elec-tronic and electrical equipment,industrial transportation, supportservices, beverages, householdgoods, leisure goods, healthcareequipment and services, media, fixedline telecommunication, life insur-ance, real estate investment and serv-ices, financial services, equityinvestment instruments, softwareand computer services and technol-ogy hardware and equipment sectors.Some market analysts, however, be-lieve that the index does not repre-sent actual position of the listed firmson the Karachi bourse as someheavyweights from energy and bank-ing sector, particularly the OGDC,drive the index at will.

KESC milled! g PSM to take legal action against kESc over power supply disconnection g disconnection of power, violation of agreement g Outages exacerbate production

Power outages dragtextile industry tothe brink of collapse

LAHORESTAFF REPORT

SPOKeSMAN of All Pakistan Textile MillsAssociation (APTMA) has said the electricitysupply disruptions have further dragged the

textile industry to the brink of collapse,particularly in the province of Punjab. Discos haveunilaterally extended eight to ten hours announcedand unannounced load shedding of electricity tothe industry on independent and grouped feeders.Textile industry is highly energy-reliant in its verybasic nature and thus requires uninterruptedenergy supply to run mill operations. APTMAspokesman said the textile industry in Punjab isvirtually at halt and unable to produce goodsmainly meant for exports. In major industryclusters, he added, the textile mills have been leftwith no option but to close down their operationsfor one whole shift due to energy supplysuspension. Viability of the Textile industry isdependent on uninterrupted energy supply tooperate on three shifts a day basis throughout theyear. he further added that 40% productioncapacity of textile industry has already been madeidle since last six months, shrinking the size ofexports both in quantitative terms. The country islosing billions of dollars exports solely due to shortsupply of energy, both electricity and gas.

Benchmark to capture 93.14pc marketcapital as kSE revises 100-share index

PRO 29-03-2012_Layout 1 3/29/2012 2:45 AM Page 2

news

Thursday, 29 March, 2012

03

Etisalat first to launch 3G in AfghanistanABU DHABI: etisalat, the largest telecommunicationcompany in the Middle east, Asia and Africa, haslaunched the first ever 3G services in Afghanistanthrough its arm “etisalat’s Afghanistan”. The serviceagreement was signed by the Chairman of AfghanistanTelecommunication Regulatory Authority, h.e. AbdulWakil Shergul and etisalat’s Afghanistan CeO, AhmedAlhosani during a ceremony held at Ministry of Com-munications & Information Technology offices inKabul. The ceremony was also attended by AfghanMinister of Communications & Information Technol-ogy, Amir Zai Sangin; Afghan Minister of Finance, Dr.Omar Zakhilwal; senior Afghan government officials;and media representatives. PRESS RELEASE

LG’s new wireless charger embodies innovation in design

BARCELONA: LG electronics (LG) unveiled itsnewest advanced wireless charger, WCD-800, at Mo-bile World Congress (MWC) 2012. The WCD-800 isdesigned in the shape of a cradle to allow to the phoneto be positioned vertically to make video calls and sendtext messages or horizontally to view TV programs andhD movies while charging. “As smartphones becomethe defacto medium for consuming multimedia con-tent and communicating, it is not unusual to find one-self having to recharge a phone a couple times a day,”said Dr. Jong-seok Park, President and CeO of LGelectronics Mobile Communications Company. “Itonly made sense to turn that charging time into a pos-itive user experience by making the smartphone usefulwhile sitting in the cradle.” PRESS RELEASE

Samsung Galaxy Note Studio comes to Park Towers karachiLAHORE: After the resounding success of the GalaxyNote Studio event in Lahore, Samsung electronics Co.Ltd. the global leader in digital technology andtelecommunications, will hold another colorful eventat Park Towers-Karachi from 30th March to 1stApril,

2012. These events in Pakistan are a continuation of aglobal series of promotional activities for the SamsungGalaxy Note - The first tablet and smart-phone hybridthat provides unmatched ease in capturing those “bigideas” using Samsung’s sophisticated “S pen” technol-ogy, to accurately digitize sketches, artworks andhandwritten text. At the Galaxy Note Studio, skillfulartists and sketchers will draw free caricatures of theparticipants, using the revolutionary “Caricature” fea-ture in the smart phone. These caricatures will also beprinted onto T-shirts & Mugs and presented as sou-venirs for the participants. Along with fun filled activ-ities, the visitors shall also be able to purchase GalaxyNote at a discounted price. PRESS RELEASE

Rotary International holds changemakers conferencekARACHI: Rotary recently held a three-day con-ference to appreciate and recognize the Changemak-ers in our community who have made a difference inthe world we live in. The hard work and time theseindividuals have put was recognized at this event.Special attention and focus was given to the follow-ing topics, literacy and education, health, hygieneand disease prevention and the development andmaintenance of peace. Speeches were made by sev-eral notable people including Rotary Director, Mr.Shehkar Mehta, District Governor of Rotary Mr.Iqbal Qureshi and the Chief Guest of the event wasNisar Khuro, acting governor of Sindh. PRESS RELEASE

Ali Akbar Group Pakistan wins cSRBusiness Excellence Award 2012LAHORE: NFeh (National Forum of environment andhealth) awarded Ali Akbar Group with CSR business ex-cellence award 2012 for its best services for communitydevelopment. Mr. Saad Akbar Khan Director Sales &Marketing Ali Akbar Group Pakistan received the awardfrom Governor Punjab Mr. Latif Khussa. Mr. Saad Akbarwhile talking to journalists after receiving CSR businessexcellence award said that Ali Akbar Group is the largestAgricultural corporate of Pakistan striving to enhance perAcre yield of farmers by its innovative chemistry, Latesttechnology and effective field advisory service. Ali AkbarGroup is utilizing its best efforts for the betterment andprosperity of Pakistan in Agriculture sector to make Pak-istan Agricultural super power. PRESS RELEASE

Tetra Pak reveals new packaging technologies at world’s largest exhibitionLAHORE: Tetra Pak, the world leader in food process-ing and packaging solutions, today revealed some of itsprincipal new packaging technologies and concept de-

velopments at Anuga FoodTec 2012. Four innovativeadvanced solutions are being showcased at the fair—iLine XT factory-wide integration, eBeam contact-freesterilisation, the hyperspeed filling machine conceptand intuitive control software—each representing a sig-nificant step forward in liquid packaging technology.“Anuga FoodTec provides us with the perfect platformto showcase our unrivalled portfolio and to launch someof our latest innovations. Visitors to our stand will seeprocessing and packaging solutions that not only ad-dress our customer needs today, but also anticipatetheir needs of the future,” said Azhar Ali Syed, Manag-ing Director Tetra Pak Pakistan. PRESS RELEASE

McB Bank announces 30pc cash dividend, posts 15c profit increasekARACHI: Board of Directors of MCB Bank has ap-proved final cash dividend at 30 percent and 10 per-cent bonus issue after the shareholders adopted theaudited financial statements of the bank and its sub-sidiaries at the MCB’s 64th Annual General Meeting.This is in addition to 90 percent interim cash dividendalready paid in 2011, the bank said in a statement is-sued here. Chairing the AGM to transact the ordinaryand special business of the Bank, Director of MCBBank, Aftab Ahmad Khan said the bank had com-pleted yet another remarkable year in terms of finan-cial performance and registered an increase of 20percent and 15 percent in profit before tax (PBT) andprofit after tax (PAT), respectively. STAFF REPORT

Business community condemns FIR against LccI presidentLAHORE: Business community has strongly con-demned FIR registered against the President of La-hore Chamber of Commerce & Industry Irfan QaiserSheikh and former President of KCCI Qaiser AhmedSheikh on baseless grounds of road-blocking/hold-ing public gathering who on the occasion of Pak-istan National Day, March 23, 2012, organized asports/race activity and a function to encourage andpromote patriotism particularly in youth and gen-erally in the citizens. In a joint press statement is-sued here Wednesday, the LCCI former presidentsMian Muhammad Ashraf, Iftikhar Ali Malik, SheikhMuhammad Asif, Mian Anjum Nisar, Mian ShafqatAli, Zafar Iqbal Chaudhry, Shahzad Ali Malik, For-mer Senior Vice Presidents Tahir Javed Malik, for-mer Vice Presidents Aftab Ahmad Vohra, Irfan IqbalSheikh and Chairman PIAF Sohail Lashari said thatIrfan Qaiser Sheikh and Qaiser Ahmad Sheikh areeminent businessmen having repute in both publicand private sectors, regularly organize this event onthe Pakistan National Day in Chiniot and also par-ticipate in the said sports activities. STAFF REPORT

PIA Md’s farewell addressLAHORE: Managing Director PIA, Mr. NadeemKhan Yousufzai in his farewell address to the airlineofficials at the head Office impressed upon them thatthey must continue to be steadfast for turning aroundthe National Flag Carrier here on Tuesday. M.Nadeem Khan Yousufzai thanked the President ofPakistan, Mr. Asif Ali Zardari and the Federal Minis-ter of Defence Ch. Ahmed Mukhtar for their supportto the airline and the aviation industry in Pakistanand with their blessings PIA is destined to grow. TheFarewell Ceremony of the outgoing Managing Direc-tor was charged with appreciation by the employeesfor his one year tenure in which he dealt with themwith utter kindness and compassion to bring the air-line out of the chaos in which he took over in February2011. his approach towards the employees created ahealthy management-employee relationship motivat-ing the employees to work for the betterment of theairline beyond call of duty. PIA successfully managedits difficult 62-day hajj operation with its own fleetalthough there were many constraints as far as thefleet management, engineering and aircraft mainte-nance was concerned. PRESS RELEASE

LAHORE: Rector UMT, Dr Hasan Sohaib Murad, presentssouvenir of the 2nd International Conference onBusiness Management to the Governor Punjab SardarLatif Khosa. PRESS RELEASE

CORPORATE CORNER

Major Gainers

Company Open High Low Close Change Turnover

Nestle PakXD 4361.83 4499.00 4301.00 4476.41 114.58 61Indus Dyeing 393.42 413.09 399.94 411.85 18.43 628Mithchells Fruit 184.15 193.30 174.95 192.68 8.53 2,078MCB Bank Ltd XDXB 162.95 169.00 162.80 167.45 4.50 862,725EFU General Ins 80.91 84.95 78.50 84.95 4.04 35,203

Major Losers

Nestle PakXD 4476.41 4478.00 4400.00 4415.00 -61.41 15Colgate Palmolive 857.48 816.00 814.61 814.68 -42.80 74Bata (Pak) Ltd. 626.02 610.00 602.00 602.00 -24.02 1,232Pak.Int.ContXD SD 141.87 140.50 134.78 134.79 -7.08 12,060Shezan Inter. 125.01 121.00 120.50 120.98 -4.03 44,178

Volume Leaders

B.O.Punjab 11.47 12.09 10.47 10.47 -1.00 36,288,904Azgard Nine 9.87 10.50 9.11 9.32 -0.55 32,827,783Jah.Sidd. Co. 21.60 22.68 20.95 22.39 0.79 31,705,525TRG Pakistan Ltd. 4.18 4.65 4.25 4.33 0.15 26,749,712Lafarge Pakistan 3.97 4.23 3.85 3.96 -0.01 20,797,278

Interbank RatesUS Dollar 90.7504UK Pound 144.6198Japanese Yen 1.0942euro 121.1699

Dollar EastBuy Sell

US Dollar 90.50 91.10Euro 119.97 121.29Great Britain Pound 143.67 145.21Japanese Yen 1.0816 1.0933Canadian Dollar 90.11 91.59Hong Kong Dollar 11.50 11.69UAE Dirham 24.56 24.80Saudi Riyal 24.04 24.29Australian Dollar 93.53 95.98

ISLAMABAD: Anisul Hassnain Musavi, Federal Secretary ofInter Provincial Coordination is addressing the concludingceremony of National Survey of TB. PRESS RELEASE

KARACHISTAFF REPORT

The bulls keptdominating Karachistocks market onWednesday with

benchmark, KSe 100-share indexskyrocketing to 13,357 points andgaining 125.68 points. Bullishsentiments prevailed in thetrading session at KSe in stocksacross the board, believes aleading analyst Ahsan Mehanti.On Wednesday, the tradingvolumes at the ready-counterwere recorded higher at 4.502million shares against 3.527million shares of the previousday. The trading value too surged

to Rs 9.093 billion compared toRs 5.475 billion of the previoussession. The intraday high andlow, respectively, stood at13,669.72 and 13,449.73 points. he added that the institutionalinterest remained in cements onhigher local cement prices, oilsstocks on expected rise in localPOL prices and banking stockson higher spreads. Investorconcerns remained on theprevailing law & order situationin the country, viewed by analyst.The market capitalization grewmodestly and increased to Rs3.484 trillion from Rs 3.453trillion a day earlier. Of thetotal 375 traded scrips, 158gained, 153 lost and 64 finished

as unchanged.Mehanti said, “expectations ofissuance of SRO onannouncements made for CGTissues and reformed CGT regimeimplementation from April 1 bythe Federal Finance Ministeraffected the sentiment ahead ofquarter end close.” The free-floatKSe-30 index also gained 165.73points to close at 11,903.77points against the previous11,738.04 points. Bank of Punjabwas the day’s volume leadercounting its traded shares at36.288 million with the openingand closing rates, respectively,standing at Rs 11.47 and Rs10.47. On the future market, theturnover increased remarkably

by over 6 million shares to 2.751million against 2.148 millionshares of Tuesday.Abdul Azeem, an analyst atInvestCap said that the KSe-100index managed to post yetanother high and the highestclose for the current uptrend.however, some profit taking iswitnessed at new highs. Thehealthy turnover is suggestingthat bulls are trying for strongergrip on the market. TheUniLever Pakistan Limited XDand Indus Dyeing, up Rs 17.38and Rs 15.38, led highest pricegainers while, Nestle PakistanXD and Colgate Palmolive, downRs 61.41 and Rs 42.80respectively, led the losers.

Another blazing bullsurge lifts index up 125pts

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