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Bulls extend record breaking parade,index up 46 points Page 03

Wednesday, 07 March, 2012

KARACHI

STAFF REPORT

THe international cottonprices have resumedtheir upward march asthe world’s secondlargest cotton producer,

india, has decided to ban export ofcotton to keep prices stable in thecountry to provide support to theirlocal textile industry.The global rise in cotton pricesalso provides relief to Pakistanitextiles industry facing energyissues, said the analysts atinvestCap research.They said after rising pressurefrom the local textilemanufacturers, the indiangovernment decided to place a ban

on cottonexports aimingto keep pricesstable at home

to provide a sortof privilege to the

textile products’manufacturers.

india hasalready

exported 9.4mn bales (1 bale =170kgs) of cotton so far against asurplus of 8.4mn bales while thecountry still has pending exportorders of around 2.6mn bales.On the other hand, depleting trendin the indian cotton stocks alongwith China’s increasing cottonstock (india’s 80 per cent exportsare headed to China) to stabilisedomestic prices to support localtextile manufacturers has alreadycreated global supply vacuum yetagain. Being the biggest consumerof cotton, China imported 15.4mnbales in FY11, while by Feb-12 theChinese government is reported tohave imported a total of 21.8mnbales vs 56.3mn bales ofconsumption estimatedfor FY12.“However, reversal incotton prices may beconsidered aphenomenon as theglobal cotton demandis estimated to godown by 4 per centYoY in FY12while thesupply isexpectedto

improve by 6 per cent YoY,” viewedAbdul Azeem of investCap.Furthermore, he said, recent cutsin growth estimates by the twoemerging giants, China and india,to multi-year low are expected tokeep cotton prices within areasonable range. At the local front, cotton pricesremained bottomed after thebumper crop was estimated at14.2mn bales for FY12. As againstlast year’s sky-high levels ofrs13,000/maund, FY12YTD’scotton price remains belowrs6,000/maund (at averagers5,864/maund). Thus, ban by the

indiangovernment

oncotton

export is expected to result infueling the local cotton prices inPakistan (prices of may-12 futuresdelivery have also reached US93.23 cents/maund in int’lmarket).The local textiles sector, which hasalready accumulated whole yearcotton inventory, would be keybeneficiary, as soaring local andint’l cotton price difference wouldimprove local textile companies’margins (see table for revisedearnings forecast).recent sharp pullback in cottonprices is expected to improvetextile sector margins from4QFY12 onward as the localcompanies had alreadyaccumulated stocks for FY12 at anaverage rs5,500/maund.

As such, any further rise ininternational cotton

prices would onlyimprove the localtextile sectorcompanies’profitability.

India bans cotton exportsto shield textile industry

KARACHI

ISMAIL DILAWAR

B AD debts of the commercialbanks and DevelopmentFinancial institutions (DFis)eased down by one per cent

Quarter-on-Quarter (QoQ) as theeconomic observers see the banksreaping fruits of 200 basis points cut inthe discount rate by the central bank.The State Bank reported Tuesday thatduring second quarter of the currentfiscal year, October-December FY2011-12, Non-Performing Loans (NPLs) ofthe banks and DFis reduced tors623.193 billion.The central bank had calculated these

bad debts at rs629.555 billion duringthe previous quarter, July-SeptemberFY12, as of September 30, 2011.“After a consistently rising trend, NPLsof the banking sector have gone downby 1 per cent,” said Khurram Schehzad,Head of investCap research. “i think200 basis points cut was the factor forimproved repayments,” viewed thesenior analyst.During the said quarter, the centralbank said, the banks’ net NPLs to theirnet credits shrank to 6.14 per cent from6.53 per cent of the last quarter.During the review period, DFis sawtheir NPLs decreasing to rs16.048billion against rs16.336 billion of theprevious quarter, whereas, the bad

debts of the banks declined tors607.145 billion from rs613.219billion.The local private and foreign banks,however, were an exception, whosegross NPLs, respectively, grew by 0.3per cent and 4.8 per cent to rs378.369billion and rs7.574 billion against theprevious quarter’s rs377.334 billionand rs7.230 billion.As the analysts see improvement inthe repayments of bank loans due to200bps discount rate cut, the banks’and DFi’s cash recovery against theirNPLs shows a positive trend andballooned to rs20.252 billionagainst rs13.779 billion of theprevious quarter.

The banks recovered rs19.228 billionagainst rs13.657 billion, thecommercial banks rs15.906 billionagainst rs12.736 billion, the publicsector banks rs3.677 billion againstrs2.134 billion, the local private banksrs12.095 billion against rs10.476billion, the foreign banks rs126 millionagainst rs134 million and thespecialised banks recovered rs3.322billion against rs921 million duringthe quarter in review.DFis were also able to recover more astheir recovery stood at rs1.024 billioncompared to the previous quarter’srs122 million.The bankers, however, are stilluncomfortable with the percentage of

banks’ bad debts saying the net NPLsof the banks should not swell beyondfive per cent.“This is not good. They should keepNPLs below five per cent. it should bebetween three to four per cent of theirnet loans,” said a former centralbanker. The bankers believe that thesix plus per cent growth in the baddebts was not a good omen for theeconomy. The central banker also saidthe banks should do more provisioningagainst their NPLs. There are someanalysts who believe the presentinterest rate regime, 12 per cent, in thecountry as higher, saying a double-digitinflation was rendering the borrowerunable to repay the bank loans.

PM directs solarpower to offgrid villages

ISLAMABAD

STAFF REPORT

Prime minister Syed Yusuf razaGilani on Tuesday directed theministries of finance and water and

power to provide solar electricity tovillages of the far flung areas, which werelocated away from the national grid.Prime minister gave this direction whilechairing a meeting to review therenewable energy development projectson Tuesday. He said the government hasinitiated a number of projects in thepower sector to overcome energyshortages in the country. He said apartfrom hydel power generation, the countrypossessed enormous potential of powergeneration through other renewableenergy resources of wind, solar, geo-thermal and bio-fuel energy. He said windenergy could produce 350,000 mW, solar2.9 million mW and geo-thermal 2,500mW. Chief executive Officer Alternateenergy Development Board, Arif Alludinsaid in view of the vast potential of therenewable energy in the country, thissector has become investor’s choice.Private sector was already investing forgenerating 1500 mW of electricitythrough these resources. He apprised themeeting that projects of 400 mW wouldstart this year and the units would startgenerating electricity early next year. Hesaid the project of 150 mW of windJhimpir in the province of Sindh isalready under construction and wouldstart operation during the first half of2012. Waste to energy sector projects areunder various stages of development andwould start production of electricity in thenext two years. Pm directed to providesolar electricity to villages of the far flungareas, which were located away from thenational grid, when CeO ADeB informedit was a cost-effective project for theremote villages and will be instrumentalin social development through povertyalleviation and job creation. Pm alsodirected off-grid application like solarwater heater, biogas and water pumpingbe implemented through renewableresource. its application would result insignificant saving of gas, electricity andalso provide organic fertilisers for thefarmers, he said. The meeting wasattended by minister for water and power,minister for finance, Deputy Chairman ofPlanning Commission, Senator SyedaSugra imam, secretaries of ministries ofwater and power, eAD, finance, planningand development, petroleum and naturalresources and other senior officials.

g Pakistani textile industry to benefit

Banks bad debts ease down to Rs623.193b as 200bps rate cut improves repayments

PRO 7-03-2012_Layout 1 3/7/2012 12:04 AM Page 1

debate02Wednesday, 07 March, 2012

Low reservoir level due to cold weather,increased IRSA indent: WAPDALAHORE: Apropos news item appearing in a section of thePress, Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA)has stated that no water can go missing between Tarbelaand Chashma, however, water downstream of Tarbela, attimes, could be reduced marginally due to earlier lowoutflows and dry river bed. Today, the availability of water inTarbela and mangla reservoirs is 0.037and 0.269 millionacre feet (mAF), respectively which is lower than the averagefor last 10 years due to prevalence of snowfall and coldweather in the catchments areas, resulting in low inflows. itis pertinent to mention that water releases from Tarbela andmangla reservoirs are always made in accordance with irSAindent. This season, irSA’s indent remained higher thanthat of the last year, due to which water level plummeted soquickly. Comparing with the average of 10 years and the lastyear, the outflows have increased by irSA on demand of theprovinces, meaning low inflows and increased outflows havedisturbed the accounted storage of water. The situation isexpected to improve as soon as weather conditions in thecatchments of the reservoirs become normal. it is importantto note that dams are constructed primarily, for irrigationpurposes, and hydel electricity is always generated throughthe water released as per irSA indent. STAFF REPORT

Third Int’l Investment Conference scheduled for March 16-18LAHORE: Third international investment Conference bythe name Sarajevo Business Forum (SBF), scheduled formay 16th to 18th, will offer a unique opportunity forPakistani businessmen to network and establish businessrelations with their counterparts in Bosnia and Herzegovina,Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, montenegro macedonia, Albania,romania and Bulgaria. This was stated Ambassador Bosniaand Herzegovina by Armin Limo while speaking at LCCi(Lahore Chamber of Commerce and industry) on Tuesday.LCCi President irfan Qaiser Sheikh, Vice President SaeedaNazar and executive Committee members Fahimurrehman Sehgal, mehmood Ghaznavi, Husnain reza mirza,Sheikh mohammad Ayub and former executive Committeemember rehmatullah Javaid also spoke on the occasion andthrew light on the issues coming in way of two-way trade.The ambassador said SBF 2012 is offering projects ininfrastructure, energy, tourism, agriculture, constructionand financial sector. He said SBF will bring togetherinvestors and entrepreneurs from North America, europeand Asia as they are vital for securing business opportunitiesin the emerging vibrant economies of Southeast europe. Theambassador said Bosnia and Herzegovina have a hugepotential in a number of sectors, including construction,energy, agriculture, infrastructure, textiles, tourism andfresh fruits and Pakistani businessmen could avail theopportunities by initiating joint ventures with theircounterparts. The ambassador said Bosnia and Herzegovinafor being located in the heart of europe has its 43 per cent ofthe total territory most useful for modern industry. Theambassador invited the Pakistani businessmen to visit thecountry for having first hand knowledge about the availableopportunities and initiating joint ventures with theirBosnian counterparts. He said Bosnia and Herzegovina havelarge capacities in the wooden industry related toproduction of goods for foreign markets. The ambassadorsaid the country is quite rich in the metal industry andopportunities are available in steel and aluminum sectors.Speaking on the occasion, LCCi President irfan QaiserSheikh said Lahore Chamber of Commerce would arrange awell tailored and sector-specific delegation to take part inSBF 2012. STAFF REPORT

KBP urges govt to announce WheatProcurement PolicyLAHORE: Kisan Board Pakistan (KBP) has urged thegovernment to immediately announce a clear WheatProcurement Policy besides increasing the procurementtarget. The demand was raised by the Wheat Committee ofthe Board which met here with KBP Central GeneralSecretary malik muhammad ramzan rohari in the chair.Talking to newsmen after the meeting, KBP General Secretarymalik muhammad ramzan rohari said wheat would soon beready for harvest especially in Sindh and Southern Punjab,but the governments of Sindh and Punjab are yet to give anyclear policy with regard to procurement. He alleged it seemedthat rulers wanted to create an artificial wheat crisis so asflour millers and arthis could fill their pockets. He furtherstated the rulers invent new methods to deprive farmers ofcotton, rice, sugarcane and maize from compensation of theirdue labour. While rulers were also spending lavishly from thenational exchequer on their luxuries, he added. rohari said ifgrowers could not get reasonable rates for their wheat crop,then they would not be able to buy expensive inputs andsowing of wheat would reduce next season. members of theKBP Wheat Committee Sarfraz Ahmad Khan, munir AhmadBodla, Haji muhammad ramzan and others unanimouslyurged the government to enhance wheat procurement targetthis year, end role of corrupt officials of the food departmentin gunny bags distribution and issuance of gunny bags to thegrowers without any discrimination. They also urged toinclude real representatives of growers in the purchasecommittees to be formed by the food department besidesimmediate announcement of wheat procurement policy forthe current year. STAFF REPORT

KARACHI

ISMAIL DILAWAR

Amauritian firm is all set toacquire Pakistan interna-tional Container Termi-nal (PiCT), Profit learnt

Tuesday. iCTSi mauritius Limited,a wholly-owned indirect subsidiaryof the international Container Ter-minal Services inc, is intending topurchase voting shares up to 55 percent in Pakistan international Con-tainer Terminal Limited.

“Disclosure of public announce-ment of intention to acquire 35 to55 per cent of voting shares or con-trol of the PiCT Limited by iCTSimauritius Limited under the ListedCompanies (Substantial Acquisi-tions of Voting Shares andTakeovers) Ordinance, 2002,” said

rafael Jose, Vice President andTreasure of iCTSi in one of its com-muniqués with the Citibank.

The Citibank N.A. Pakistan hasbeen appointed as a manager to theoffer in respect of the proposed ac-quisition. The acquisition of 55 percent ordinary shares, accounting for60,034,234, would put the foreigncompany in control of PiCT, one ofPakistan’s leading container termi-nals. PiCT has already issued109,153,152 ordinary and18,000,000 preference shares eachpriced at rs10.

The terminal’s major share-holders, include companies as wellas individuals that are Premiermercantile Services (Private) Lim-ited, Jahangir Siddiqui and Com-pany Limited, Captain Haleem A.Siddiqui, Aasim Azim Siddiqui,

Danish A Siddiqui, Sharique AzimSiddiquî and mrs Saba Haleem.

Assuming that per share pricefor the proposed deal would bers10, the acquisition would be ofworth over rs600.342 million.

iCTSi, which is organised underthe mauritian laws, would makepublic a draft of the public an-nouncement of its intention to buymajority shares in PiCT on the9th of this month.

The company, in compliancewith regulation 6(2) of the listedcompanies, has submitted the draftto the Securities and exchangeCommission of Pakistan, PiCT andKSe, at least two working days be-fore its intended publication.

“Pursuant to regulation 6(2) ofthe listed companies (substantialacquisitions of voting shares and

takeovers) regulations, 2008, weenclose for your attention, a copy ofthe public announcement of inten-tion, which shall be published on 9march, 2012, in connection with theproposed acquisition,” Aijaz Haq,Citibank’s Country manager Securi-ties told Karachi Stock exchange onTuesday. iCTSi mauritius Limitedis based in the republic of mauri-tius and has two directors on itsBoard namely edgardo Q Abesamisand reemul Giandeo. iCTSi Lim-ited (Bermuda) is the major share-holder. Whereas, PiCT’s Board ofDirectors comprises CaptainHaleem A Siddiqui, ShariqueAzeem Siddiqui, Asim Azim Sid-diqui, Syed Nizam A Shah, Ali razaSiddiqui, masood Usmani and Cap-tain Zafar iqbal Awan, who is theterminal’s Chief executive Officer.

Mauritian firm acquiring PakistanInternational Container Terminal

STAFF REPORT

KARACHI

BOArD of Directors ofNational Bank of Pak-istan (NBP) in theirmeeting held on Tues-

day at the bank’s head office hereapproved the financial state-ments of the bank for the yearended December 31, 2011 andannounced a payout of 10 percent bonus shares and 75 percent (rs7.50 per share) cash div-idend to the shareholder as finaldividend for the year 2011 whichtranslates into payout ratio of81.18 per cent.

Pakistan’s economy is stillfacing challenges of rising infla-tion, shortage of energy andpower, law and order situation,increasing fiscal deficit and im-pact of international economiccrisis. The central bank reducedits policy rate by 200 bps from14.0 per cent to 12.0 per cent,aimed at supporting the privatecredit investment and also tohelp in reducing the rising nonperforming loans, but this willalso impact the net interest mar-gins of the banking industry.

Total assets of the bank in-creased to rs1.15 trillion at theyear end, up by 10.8 per centfrom year the end 2010, an ap-preciable growth, especially inview of lower growth in thebanking system deposits. Pre-tax profit increased by 7 per centfrom rs24.4 billion to rs26.0billion, owing to higher core rev-enues.Net interest income in-creased by 8.3 per cent from last

year, while non interest mark upincome was up by 9.7 per cent onaccount of higher dividend andexchange income. After taxprofit, however, remained at lastyear level of rs.17.6 billion due toprior year’s tax reversal ofrs.939 million in 2010.

Pre- tax return on equitystood at 24.3 per cent, pre-tax re-turn on assets at 2.5 per cent withcapital adequacy ratio at 16 percent. The top line (operating rev-enue) increased by 8.7 per centfrom rs60.9 billion in 2010 tors66.1 billion in 2011. The bank’stotal deposits increased by rs95billion or 11.5 per cent. Net ad-vances also showed an increase ofrs48 billion or 10.0 per cent. Dur-ing 2011, several major iT initia-tives were undertaken, includingexpansion of ATm network, es-tablishment of full fledge 24/7 callcenter and conversion of morethan 1,000 branches onto the on-line network, remaining brancheswill also be converted on the on-line network in first quarter of2012. The benefits of the said iTinitiative coupled with ongoing iTupgradation will also be furtherexplored in 2012 in the form offurther market penetration andproduct development.

Going forward, the bankshall have renewed focus on re-profiling its liability portfoliowith emphasis on increasingCurrent and Saving (CASA) de-posit ratio. reduction in NPLsand recoveries, increase in tradebusiness and further iT upgrada-tion and expense managementwill be area of focus.

ISLAMABAD

STAFF REPORT

TWO days training course tobuild the capacity of govern-ment officers of federal min-istries, implementing agencies,

provincial departments and research or-ganisations regarding trade in agriculturewas arranged on Tuesday. The trainingcourse on ‘Trade in Agriculture: Chal-lenges and Opportunities for Pakistan’started at Pakistan institute of Trade andDevelopment (PiTAD) under the euro-pean Union (eU) funded Trade relatedTechnical Assistance (TrTA ii) pro-gramme. The course is jointly organisedby PiTAD and international Trade Centre(iTC) with technical support from theSwitzerland-based World Trade institute(WTi). The purpose of the training courseis to build the capacity of government of-ficers and researchers from federal gov-ernment ministries, implementingagencies, provincial departments and re-search organisations regarding the im-portance of trade in agriculture.

The training focuses on the domes-tic conditions affecting agriculture pro-ductivity, impact of liberalisation oninternational trade in agriculture, foodsecurity, agriculture trade statistics, or-ganic food, and Genetically modifiedOrganisms (GmO), among other topics.Particular attention will be given to in-vestment related issues and multilat-eral negotiations in agriculture. Thetraining provides an opportunity forthe participants to identify areas wherethey can contribute to the domestic reg-ulatory reforms as well as bilateral andmultilateral negotiations in the agricul-ture sector. Thirty five officers and re-searchers from various ministries,research organisations and provincial

departments are participating in thetraining course.

The training is delivered by a mastertrainer from the Trade Development Au-thority of Pakistan, Nauman Aslam, andis supported by his mentor from WTi DrChristian Haeberli through video confer-ence. Necessary equipment has been pro-vided to PiTAD under TrTA iiprogramme to web-cast the training toprovide a low-cost and easily accessiblecapacity building opportunity to the inter-ested stakeholders. The training has beenorganised under the iTC implementedTrade Policy Capacity Building compo-nent of the TrTA ii programme. A mainaspect of this component is to build of ca-pacity of government officials working invarious ministries and departments ontrade policy and negotiations. For thispurpose a partnership agreement was fa-cilitated between PiTAD and WTi for theinstitutional capacity building of localtraining and research institutes and thetraining of a number of master trainers.The master trainers called upon to furtherdisseminate their knowledge gained topolicy makers working in various min-istries through such short trainings aswell as PiTAD’s regular curriculum.Through the approach, the programmeaims to ensure both sustainability(through building local capacity) and ex-cellence in trade policy training to govern-ment officials. in the recent months, twotrainings on regional integration andtrade policy formulation and analysiswere conducted under the programme.

TrTA ii programme is imple-mented by the United Nations indus-trial Development Organisation(UNiDO) in association with inter-national Trade Centre (iTC) andWorld intellectual Property Organi-sation (WiPO).

NBP assets climb toRs1.15t at year-end 2011

EU supports training of Pak officials in trade in agriculture

LAHORE

STAFF REPORT

PUrSUiNG a sustainablepath of development,biotechnology helps inaddressing global

challenges of producing more withless resource with a view to doublingfood production on same or lessinputs in changing climatic conditionsin order to feed projected around 10billion populations by year 2050.Keeping in view positive impacts ofgenetically engineered plants, asmany as 29 countries of worldcultivated biotech crops till 2011.Since introduction of biotech crops,genetically modified producecontributed to food security,

sustainability and climate change byincreasing crop production valued at$78.4 billion, providing a betterenvironment by pesticides use andreducing carbon emissions. it alsoleads to conserve biodiversity bysaving 91 million hectares of land andhelped alleviate poverty by helping 15million small farmers. Biotech cropsare essential but are not a panaceaand adherence to good farmingpractices such as rotations andresistance management are a must forbiotech crops as they are forconventional crops. This was the cruxof the presentation made by foreignexperts at a seminar titled‘international Perspective about theFuture Biotech Crops’ arranged by theAgricultural Journalists’ Association

(AJA) Lahore. Dr rhodora Aldemita,Senior Programme Officer GlobalKnowledge Center on CropBiotechnology and Dr mariechelNavarro, manager of the sameprogramme shared their views ontopics such as Biotech Crops, Globalimpact and Future Prospects, mythsversus realities and issues regardingfood and environment safety, mediarepresentation of science: how printand visual communicators defineBiotechnology and challenges incommunicating agriculturalbiotechnology: the BT cornexperience in Philippines. Theseexperts are working underinternational Service for theAcquisition of Agri-BiotechApplications (iSAAA). A good number

of journalists from print andelectronic media covering agriculturalsector in Lahore and islamabadattended the capacity-building mediaworkshop, which turned out to be adebate on this much talked aboutissue. Speaking on the occasion, AJAPresident munawar Hasan stressedthe need of carrying out healthydebate on biotechnology in order todispel much touted impression aboutits ill-effects, if any. Free flow ofinformation is a key in this regard, hesaid and adding we should not merelysay that political consideration orvested interest propels anti-biotechnology campaign. He observedthat scientific evidence should openlybe shared to support case ofbiotechnology.

‘Biotechnology, solution for global challenges’

PRO 7-03-2012_Layout 1 3/7/2012 12:04 AM Page 2

Microsoft strengthens its footprints in Pakistan

KARACHI: microsoft Pakistan today announcedthe re-launch of the Hardware devices. Premiumquality, durability and warranty, all that isneeded by the home computer users to be hasslefree. That is not all. microsoft Hardware for Busi-ness, available through qualified resellers, is aneasier way to purchase and deploy microsoftHardware. Further, microsoft Pakistan also an-nounced the official appointment of its author-ized hardware distributor; Advance BusinessSystems (ABS) in Pakistan. With this appoint-ment, microsoft strengthens its distributor net-work footprint in Pakistan and ensures provisionof original microsoft hardware in key metropoli-tans of the country. PRESS RELEASE

Jazba celebrates Pakistan’s newmartial arts recordLAHORE: mobilink Jazba sponsored a specialevent at the international islamic University is-

lamabad School, Khyber Campus, where AhmedHussain claimed a new world record for the mostrapid martial art kicks in one minute; completing307 kicks within 60 seconds. Jazba has announcedprize money of rs50,000 for Ahmed Hussain onachieving this prestigious world record and pro-moting a positive image for Pakistan. Sadia Khur-ram, Director marketing mobilink (Jazba) laudedAhmed’s performance, saying “it is indeed a mo-ment of pride for the whole nation that a youngPakistani has created a new world record. Jazba re-mains committed to providing the youth of Pak-istan with the opportunity to explore and promotetheir remarkable talents on a global platform. icongratulate Pakistan’s very own ‘Karate Kid’ onthis very special achievement.” PRESS RELEASE

Etisalat wins three prestigious awardsat Mobile World Congress 2012BARCELONA: etisalat, the only middle easttelecom operator to be recognized for innovationsand with operations in 17 markets across the mid-dle east, Africa and Asia, has won three of the sec-tor’s most prestigious international awards at therecently held annual 2012 mobile World Congressin Barcelona, Spain. etisalat received two GSmAGlobal mobile Awards in the ‘Best mobile Healthinnovation’ and ‘mWomen Best mobile Product’categories for its mobile health innovation, ‘eti-salat mobile Baby’ that is helping to combat ma-ternal mortality in developing countries. etisalatalso won the ‘Best mobile money innovation’award for its etisalat Commerce platform that ishelping make financial services accessible to mil-lions of people across the region. PRESS RELEASE

UNIDO arranges training scholarship for female students ISLAMABAD: UNiDO’s Women entrepreneur-ship Development Programme (WeD) in collabo-ration with its academic partner Quaid-e-AzamUniversity arranged for a six day- enterprise De-velopment Training (eDT) scholarship for the fe-male students. The training is being conducted byWeD Programme’s capacity building partner,empowerment through Creative integration(eCi). Universities in Pakistan produce thousands

of graduates each year, flooding the job marketwith more unemployed individuals. With lesseremployment opportunities in the market there isa high rate of general frustration taking toll on theyouth. Some who accidentally end up in busi-nesses have very limited knowledge of this sector,hence submitting to less profit and more losses.Under its “Linking University with industry”component, UNiDO’s WeD Programme has de-signed a series of enterprise Development Train-ings for the female masters/mPhil students whichis aimed at teaching the graduating semesters onhow to startup a business. PRESS RELEASE

Wateen selects MARA Systems for caching solutionsLAHORE: Wateen Telecom announced that it hasselected mArA Systems for providing a cachingsolution which will improve customer’s quality ofexperience and enable bandwidth savings for thecompany. Wateen selected the Cache mArA appli-ance solution as it offers a unique caching mecha-nism that enables caching for content from leadingvideo portals, CDNs and file hosters. it also cutsdown unproductive use of the internet and con-sumption of network bandwidth. Speaking aboutthe contract, Wateen Chief Technology OfficerFaisal Sattar said, “The Web has changed andgrown significantly as social networking, videostreaming, and file hosting sites have become pop-ular, requiring more and more bandwidth. mArASystems provide an excellent support, real timestatistics and outstanding results for caching onmultimedia content. By caching sites on localservers, our consumers will benefit from reducedload times.” PRESS RELEASE

Faysal Bank holds auto conferenceKArACHi: Faysal Bank Limited’s Car Finance

business recently organised an auto conference atone of the leading hotels in Karachi where top rep-resentatives of car manufacturers, dealers and in-surance companies were invited. Speaking to theaudience, Syed Zaka-ur-rehman, Head ConsumerFinance said, “Buying a car for the family is becom-ing a priority for every person. Considering this evergrowing demand, Faysal Bank is committed to of-fering attractive car financing options with the sup-

port of our alliance partners, paving the way for anaffordable vehicle for our potential customers.”press release

PIRANA partners with COGITO

LAHORE : Cogito marketing Solutions Limited, ayoung, passionate and most vibrant agency operating inBangladesh has formed a working strategic alliance withPirANA Communications Group. An official memoran-dum of Understanding (moU) signing ceremony tookplace in Dhaka, Bangladesh. razeeb H Chowadhury(CeO and mD) of COGiTO and imran irshad (Founderand CeO) of PirANA signed the moU. PRESS RELEASE

Qubee introduces QClub Reward ProgrammeKARACHI: Qubee has introduced QClub Loyaltyreward Programme for its valued customers toenjoy unlimited benefits and amazing offers fromQubee. Chief marketing Officer of Qubee, mrHashim Sheikh stated “Q Club is divided intothree levels, depending on the number of monthsa customer has been using Qubee. The loyalty pro-gram is a permanent reward programme that en-titles Qubee customers for additional benefits.” Hesaid those customers who have been using Qubeefrom three to six months, six to 12 months and forover 12 months are grouped as Qnue, Qguru andQroyal, respectively, and the additional volume of10, 20 and 40 per cent will be given to them ac-cordingly. PRESS RELEASE

news

Wednesday, 07 March, 2012

03

CORPORATE CORNER

Major Gainers

Company Open High Low Close Change Turnover

Nestle PakistanXD 3991.98 4189.00 4120.00 4169.85 177.87 108Indus Dyeing 402.25 422.00 382.15 411.71 9.46 1,104Colgate Palmolive 843.23 852.10 850.00 851.74 8.51 533Pak Int Con SD 125.47 131.74 129.00 131.68 6.21 43,870Tri-Pack Films 207.77 213.00 206.00 211.43 3.66 1,220

Major Losers

UniLever Pak Ltd 5699.02 5700.00 5651.00 5655.17 -43.85 159Wyeth Pak Limited 773.12 770.00 755.00 768.41 -4.71 2,070Packages Limited 85.35 85.00 81.09 81.09 -4.26 93,291National Refinery 275.52 278.00 270.50 271.50 -4.02 101,324EFU General Ins 72.37 72.50 68.76 68.76 -3.61 28,890

Volume Leaders

National Bank 53.82 56.51 53.25 54.95 1.13 40,613,650Jah Sidd Co 10.37 11.34 10.43 10.96 0.59 31,565,662Bank Al-Falah 15.53 16.40 15.65 15.98 0.45 19,777,047Lotte PakPTA 8.90 9.30 8.83 8.99 0.09 9,537,990Fauji Cement 4.89 4.97 4.68 4.72 -0.17 8,567,382

Interbank RatesUS Dollar 90.8842UK Pound 143.4698Japanese Yen 1.1219Euro 119.7308

Buy Sell

US Dollar 90.60 91.10Euro 118.55 119.74Great Britain Pound 142.41 143.75Japanese Yen 1.1085 1.1183Canadian Dollar 89.98 91.43Hong Kong Dollar 11.48 11.74UAE Dirham 24.62 24.81Saudi Riyal 24.12 24.28Australian Dollar 95.16 97.58

KARACHI

STAFF REPORT

THe Karachi stock marketkept breaking previousrecords on Tuesday withthe benchmark index

climbing to a new high on the backof, what market observers said,higher activity on strong valua-tions after record payout and earn-ing announcement by the NationalBank of Pakistan.

“The bullish activity witnessedleading the KSe-100 index to arecord close amid higher activityon strong valuations after recordpayout and earning announcementby the NBP,” viewed Ashenmehanti, a director at Arif HabibSecurities. The day saw the bench-mark KSe 100-share index gaining46.03 points to close at record13,324.34 points against 13,278.31points of monday.

“The KSe 100 index againmanaged to sustain above the

identified pivot level,” viewedAbdul Azeem of investCap. Theindex hit the intraday high and lowof 13,363.34 points and 13,261.78points. The total traded shares atthe ready-counter were counted at250.514 million shares against therecord 295.138 million shares ofthe previous session. The tradingvalue stood at rs7.692 billion com-pared to monday’s rs8.120 billion.

“The turnover for the day wasalso encouraging. However, theindex is now reaching the nearest

closing area of 13,375 points levels,”Azeem said. The market capitalswelled to rs3.454 trillion from theprevious rs3.441 trillion. Of the total367 traded scrips, 154 gained, 125lost while 88 remained unchanged.

The turnover in future con-tracts remained down and slightlydecreased to 16.931 million sharesagainst 17.021 million shares oflast day. National Bank of Pakistantopped the volumes leaders’ list bycounting its traded shares at 40.61million shares each priced at

rs53.82 in the opening andrs54.95 in the closing.

“retail and institutional sup-port witnessed ahead of reformedCGT regime implementation fromApril1 in blue chip banking, oil andfertiliser stocks on resumption ofgas supplies in fertiliser sector,easing circular debt concerns inpower sector post major earningannouncements at KSe,” saidmehanti. This, he said, was despite“concerns current account deficiton rising global commodities.”

Bulls extend record breakingparade, index up 46 points

LAHORE

IMRAN ADNAN

FeDerAL Board of revenue (FBr) has un-earthed rs500 million tax evasion scam inwhich some eight companies are involved

that helped 600 taxpayers in claiming illegal tax ad-justments, Profit learnt on Tuesday. FBr officialsdisclosed that on receipt of tip off, Lahore Directorateof intelligence and investigation, initiated probe re-lated to a tax fraud on the basis of fake or flying in-voices and identified eight fraudulent companies,

including Sunny Traders, elahi Traders, Faisal en-terprises, Shalimar Trade Links, rehman Papermart, Shaheen Trade Linkers, Heaven Trade Linesand Azure enterprises. initial investigation revealsthat these companies issued fake or flying invoices toover 600 other taxpayers to enable them to claim in-admissible or illegal input tax adjustment, causing aloss of nearly half-a-billion-rupees to national ex-chequer. Official summary made available to Profitindicates that m/S Sunny Traders has caused a lossof over rs135 million, m/S elahi Traders rs71.105million, m/S Faisal enterprises rs66 million, m/S

Shalimar Trade Links rs50.862 million, m/Srehman Paper mart rs29.703 million, m/S Sha-heen Trade Linkers rs28.990 million, m/S HeavenTrade Lines rs19.140 million and m/S Azure enter-prises 72.661 million. Lahore Directorate of intelli-gence had also lodged Firs against these fraudsters,on monday, for investigation, prosecution and ancil-lary in these causes. To recover the tax amount fromfraudsters, FBr sources disclosed that over 600 ben-eficiaries would be investigated to recover the gov-ernment revenue. The board has also constitutedspecial teams to expedite the investigation process.

Federal Board of Revenue unearths tax fraud

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