01

BUSINESS

BFriday, 3 May, 2013

Most of the important things in the world have been

accomplished by people who have kept on trying when

there seemed to be no hope at all. — Dale Carnegie

Elections optimismboosts stocksmarket

KARACHI: Stocks closed higher on

Thursday due to emerging clarity and

optimism about timely elections on May

11. Fauji Fertiliser continued to rally after

its result announcement while investors

remained skeptical about Engro

Corporation due to problems of gas

supply, dealers said. The Karachi Stock

Exchange’s (KSE) benchmark 100-share

index ended 0.27 per cent, or 52.11

points, higher at 19,034.53 points. Fauji

Cement Company Ltd rose 3.05 per cent

to 9.13 rupees. In the currency market,

the rupee ended at 98.34/98.40 against

the dollar, stronger than Wednesday’s

close of 98.39/98.44. Overnight rates in

the money market remained flat at 9 per

cent. AGenCieS

Meezan Bankrecords 9% growthin first quarter 2013KARACHI: Meezan Bank Limited recorded

a 9% growth in its profit-after-tax of first

quarter ended March 31, 2013 which

increased to Rs 982 million compared to

Rs 903 million earned in the corresponding

period of 2012. A statement on Thursday

said that the earnings per share (EPS) of

the bank increased to Rs 0.98 (March

2012: Rs 0.90) on the enhanced share

capital of Rs 10 billion. Deposits of the

Bank grew to Rs 235 billion as at March

31, 2013 which stood at Rs 230 billion in

December 2011. Meezan Bank Board of

Directors approved the financial

statements of the bank for the quarter

ended March 31, 2013, in a meeting held

in Dubai on April 30, 2013. Chairman of

the Board Sheikh Ebrahim Bin Khalifa Al-

Khalifa presided the meeting that was also

attended by Vice Chairman Abdullateef A

Al-Asfour and other directors. The

statement further pointed out that the

increase in profit has been achieved

despite the monetary easing of 400 basis

points by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP)

during the last 18 months. APP

FaIsalabad

inP

European Union (EU) is the largesttrading partner of Pakistan withover nine billion Euro trade vol-

ume, said EU Ambassador Lars-Gunnar WIGEMARK while

addressing members of the Faisal-abad Chamber of Commerce and In-

dustry (FCCI) on Thursday.He said the EU was extending spe-

cial support to Pakistan because of its rolein the war on terror. He said Pakistan was

already enjoying GSP status and nowthe Pakistan government had filed

an application for GSP Plusin March this year. He

said Pakistan is practi-cally qualified for GSP

Plus as it has already

signed and implemented 27 international conven-tions. However, there are some reservations aboutsix conventions including child labour, discrimi-nation against minorities, women harassment etc.He said by the end of this year some kind of de-cision would be made on the GSP Plus status toPakistan. He said that EU was also engaged withPakistan in other fields. “We are extending 40million Euros for technical and vocational train-ing and have so far trained 80,000 people for ef-ficient use of available water resources,” he said.

The UE ambassador said more facilitieswould also be extended to train workers in Pak-istan. He said Pakistan has potential to playmore roles in EU but there are some impedi-ments of standardisation. The EU ambassadorwas optimistic of the active role of Pakistan inEU countries and said training to the Pakistanibusinessmen exporting seafood to the EU wouldbe extended. He said two companies from Pak-istan have qualified to sell seafood to EU.

He said Pakistan should also concentrate onregional trade as huge markets like India, China,Iran and Afghanistan are available in close vicin-ity. He said EU was also monitoring the electionprocess in the country. In this connection, 48 ob-servers are monitoring the election process whileanother 52 are visiting various cities so that theelection activity could be observed, he added.

Regarding slow moving items, he admittedthere are some items which are not relevant toPakistani businessmen. However, Pakistanshould concentrate further on improving thequality of its exports and in this context EU isextending facility of training the workforce.

He said in the coming years we will be con-centrating on development of local communitiesto improve law and order and discourage terroristactivities. Earlier in his welcome address to theambassador FCCI President Mian Zahid Aslamsaid Pakistan attaches great importance to its re-lationship with the EU regional bloc. He appre-

ciated EU policy to stay constructively with Pak-istan, both on political and economic fronts.

He said EU engagement in Pakistan in de-velopment programs with a total value of 750million Euros and humanitarian aid of over 370Euros in the last four years makes it the numberone international humanitarian player in Pak-istan. He further said EU being a major tradingbloc and the world’s single largest market is thelargest trading partner of Pakistan. The EU ac-counts for 21% of Pakistan’s external trade, withPakistani exports to the EU in 2012 amountingto 4.07 billion Euros and EU exports to Pakistanamounting to 4.10 billion Euros, he said.

He said the EU has already helped Pakistanby allowing Autonomous Trade Preferences(ATP) package but the grant of GSP Plus fromnext year as well as concluding a Free TradeAgreement is the real remedy to help Pakistanovercome its economic difficulties through betteraccess to EU markets.

EU is the largest trading partner of Pakistan: envoy

Islamabad

APP

The country’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) based inflationrate for the month of April 2013 rose to 1.09 percent over theprevious month (March 2013).

On a year-on-year (YoY) basis, the inflation during April2013 increased by 5.8 percent as compared to the same monthof last year, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) Director Gen-eral Arif Mehmood Cheema told media personnel during apress conference on Thursday.

The average inflation rate during the first 10 months (July-April 2012-13) witnessed increase of 7.75percent when compared tothe same period oflast year. TheWholesale PriceIndex (WPI) andSensitive PriceIndex (SPI) in April2013 increased by0.77 percent and0.29 percent in

com-

parison to March 2013. According to the data compiled byPBS, on month-on-month (MoM) basis, food items that wit-nessed increase in prices during April 2013 over March 2013included onions (40.12%), fresh vegetables (20.97%), freshfruits (12.46%), chicken (4.76%), tea (2.53%), fish (1.73%),sugar (1.7%), pulse masoor (1.37%), beverages (1.29%), milkpowder (0.93%), meat (0.85%) and gur (0.72%).

Food items that witnessed a decrease in prices during April2013 over March 2013 included tomatoes (27.11%), eggs(13.69%), pulse gram (6.91%), potatoes (6.26%), wheat(5.50%), gram whole (5.08%), gram flour (5.04%), wheat flour(2.91%), pulse mash (2.35%), spices (2.31%), mustard oil(1.69%), pulse moong (1.52%) and wheat products (1.29%).

The non-food items that witnessed increase during themonth included text books (6.89%), cotton cloth (4.38%), ed-ucation (2.52%), dopatta (1.94%), hosiery (1.68%), house

rent (1.48%), household equipments (1.25%), utensils(1.23%), construction wages rates (1.17%), woolencloth (1.14%), doctor MBBS clinic fee (1.06%),construction input items (0.94%) and stationery(0.89%). The non-food items that witnessed de-crease included transport services (1.2%), kerosene

oil (1.18%), motor fuel (0.76%), personal equipment(0.53%) and woolen readymade garments (0.06%). Duringthe month of April 2013 the trimmed core inflation hasbeen observed as 7.6 percent while it was 11 percent during

April 2012 over April 2011. On the other hand, the non-food and non-energy core inflation has been observed as 8.7

percent, while it was 10.8 percent during April 2012 overApril 2011.

Monthly inflation rises to 1.09%

SECP invites public opinion on ‘DraftCompanies Regulations 2013’

Minister asksautomobilemanufacturers to endpremium on new cars

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister forIndustries and Production Shahzada AhsanAshraf Sheikh met leading automobilemanufacturers to discuss the issue of charginga hefty premium referred to as ‘ON money,’for early delivery of vehicles by differentmanufacturers in the country. On receivingnumerous complaints from customers acrossthe country, it has been observed that up to Rs200,000 has been charged for early delivery oftop of the line variants by different dealers.The minister directed all leading automobilemanufacturers to take stringent actions againstsuch dealers, which may try to swindle theordinary customer. Furthermore, the ministerdirected all manufacturers to deliver newvehicles between 30 to 45 days otherwise theconcerned dealer would be held responsibleand liable to cancellation/ suspension of thedealership. Representatives from theautomobile industry ensured the minister overcompliance of these directives. Moreover, theyapprised him in detail on the supply anddemand shifts in the automobile industry. Inaddition, they said they will take coerciveaction against all dealers involved in chargingpremium on purchase of new cars. Themanufacturers said they would submit a copyof new provisional booking order conditions tothe ministry within seven days. Online

Islamabad

Online

THE Securities and ExchangeCommission of Pakistan (SECP)on Thursday invited public opin-ion on Draft Companies (Distri-bution of Specie Dividend)

Regulations, 2013.Companies (Distribution of Specie

Dividend) Regulations, 2013 is meant toensure protection of investors, provide en-hanced transparency, and facilitate com-panies. SECP stated that specie dividendis a form of dividend where shares of an-other company, whether listed or unlisted,which are held as investment by the issu-ing company, are distributed among enti-tled shareholders of the issuing company.

Distribution of shares of anothercompany as dividend is an ac-ceptable practice in the mar-ket which is consideredbeneficial to both the issu-ing company and itsshareholders.

These draft regulationshave been developed afterdetailed study of practices invarious international jurisdic-tions. They broadly cover the eli-gibility conditions for declarationof specie dividend, the requirement to pro-vide an independent valuation report forthe securities to be distributed in case thecompany is unlisted, conditions for distri-bution of specie dividend, and the require-ment to provide a detailed information

memorandum to shareholders forthe securities to be distributed.

In order to ensure maxi-mum investor protectionand transparency, it hasbeen made a requirementthat a company’s Articles

of Association should ex-plicitly permit the distribu-

tion of specie dividend andthe company obtains the share-

holders’ approval before any suchdistribution. Furthermore, any

company may distribute specie dividendonly once in two years.

Where securities of an unlisted com-pany are distributed as specie dividend,listing of such securities shall be manda-tory within a period of 90 days from the

date of declaration, and for such purposea ‘no objection certificate’ (NOC) shall beobtained from the relevant stock ex-change(s) prior to declaration. In casesuch securities cannot be listed, the issu-ing company shall make these securitiesliquid, at the option of the shareholders.

It is expected that promulgation ofthese draft regulations would facilitatecompanies to distribute securities of othercompanies as specie dividend subject todisclosure requirements and sufficientconditions for ensuring protection of in-vestors. In addition, e considering thatmany companies in Pakistan are closelyheld, the distribution of securities asspecie dividend in a protected environ-ment will help broaden investor base anddepth of the market.

PM constitutes committee for PSM bailout packageISLAMABAD: Prime Minister (PM) Mir Hazar Khan Khoso on Thursday directed theMinistry of Finance to collaborate with the Ministry of Production and the managementof Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) to work out a financial package for making the strategicfinancial asset a feasible entity. The premier issued these directions in a meeting heldto review a bailout package for PSM at the PM House. The PM constituted acommittee comprising representatives of ministries of finance and production andmanagement of PSM to work out a business plan and present it to him forconsideration as soon as possible. The meeting was attended by Minister forProduction Shahzada Ahsan Ashraf Shaikh, PM’s Adviser on Finance Dr ShahidAmjad Chaudhry, finance, production and planning secretaries, the PSM chief executiveofficer (CEO) and other senior government officials. APP

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BUSINESSFriday, 3 May, 2013

Hashoo Foundationorganises Job Fair 2013-05-02

RAWALPINDI: Hashoo Foundation (HF) in

partnership with the Aga Khan Economic Planning

Board RIPMA organized a Grand Job Fair at the

Pearl Continental Hotel, Rawalpindi. Mr. Mehmood

Ahmed Warraich Senior Vice President Islamabad,

Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Mr. Sheik

Amir Waheed Director Latif Group of Industries

were chief guests at the ceremony. Organizing

career & job fairs is one of the key components of

the HF’s Skills Development Program with primary

objectives to provide a platform for its trained,

skilled and professional youth and connect them

with reputed and reliable employers. This Job Fair

will also open business prospects for the

employers to market and promote their business

and reach-out to a large number of audiences.

Furthermore, it will enable the employers to

recruit future employees in a very cost-effective

manner. Around 400 trained youth visited more

than 40 employers from education, hospitality,

banking, insurance and service industries. They

did one-o-one interviews and selected best

candidates for their industry. They highly

appreciated and thanked the efforts of Hashoo

Foundation and Economic Planning Board for

organizing this event enabling them to interact

with huge masses and get potential employees for

their growing industries. At the event, Mr.

Mehmood Ahmed Warraich Senior Vice President

Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry

(ICCI) applauded the contribution of private sector

especially the service industries in Pakistan in

alleviating the poverty and bringing opportunities

for employment. PReSS ReleASe

McDonald’s ignites theTorch of Sports forspecial childrenKARACHI: As part of its Corporate Social

Responsibility, McDonald’s recently arranged the

Annual Sports Festival at Chamman House for

Special Children on 4th April 2013. The families and

teachers of the children applauded the event and

appreciated the efforts of McDonald’s. The children

participating in the event had a great time

competing in a friendly environment and

showcasing their sporting talents. After the prize

distribution ceremony, McDonald’s served almost

600 - 700 people attending the event with food and

soft drinks. McDonald’s keenly participates in

philanthropic activities to make sure that it lives up

to the expectations of people and act accordingly to

its business values regarding corporate social

responsibility. Whether it’s an opportunity to help

people in distress or making an effort to better the

society in general, McDonald’s has always remained

on the forefront in helping out concerned

organizations by aiding them to see their initiatives

to the end. PReSS ReleASe

ACCA launchesFoundation DiplomaLAHORE: Have you completed Matriculation,

Intermediate or O-Level and are looking for a

qualification that will offer you global mobility?

Global accountancy body launches a qualification,

ACCA Foundation Diploma, that builds your basis

right, offers maximum chances to pass the ACCA

qualification, and allows you to begin after

Matriculation, O-Level or Intermediate. It can be

completed in as little as 12 months. Mohammad

RamzanAchakzai, Secretary, Inter Board

Committee of Chairmen (IBCC Pakistan) was chief

guest at the Foundation Diploma launch event

held at PC. PReSS ReleASe

1st CIIT InternationalWorkshop on QSUniversity RankingsISLAMABAD: COMSATS Institute of Information

Technology (CIIT) organized the 1st CIIT

International Workshop on QS University Rankings,

in collaboration with Higher Education Commission

(HEC), Ministry of Science & Technology and National

Testing Service, on May 2, 2013 at Serena Hotel,

Islamabad. QS Universities Rankings (Quacquarelli

Symonds) is one of the leading 3 international

ranking organizations that have been publishing

annually rankings of the World’s top universities

since 2004, and experts from the field of QS

Rankings, Ms Mandy Mok, the Managing Director, QS

Asia; Mr. Michael Fung, the Director of Planning and

Institutional Research in the office of the President at

the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology,

Hong Kong; Mr. Hung Truong, Senior Manager of

International Affairs at the Hong Kong Polytechnic

University; and Mr. Samuel Wong, Senior Researcher,

QS Intelligence Unit at QS Asia, deliberated on a

diverse range of topics related to rankings and

internationalization of higher education that can lead

the Pakistani universities to become World Class

Higher Education Institutions. PReSS ReleASe

Bank of Punjab holds AGMLAHORE: The Bank of Punjab held its Annual

General Meeting on April 30, which was attended

by the bank’s directors, management and a large

number of its shareholders. The bank’s financials

for the year ending 31 December, 2012, were

approved at the meeting. According to these

financials, the bank’s profit after tax amounted to

PKR 1.6 billion which only stood at PKR 0.35 billion

for the previous fiscal year. The profit after tax for

the fiscal year ending 2012 thus witnessed an

increase of 370%. BOP’s income per share also

increased to PKR 3.09 from last year’s PKR 0.66.

Similarly, the bank’s deposits and loans increased

by 12% and 18% respectively, amounting to PKR

266.0 Billion and PKR 149.6 billion in that order.

The shareholders voiced their appreciation for

Naeemuddin Khan’s strong leadership skills and

professional capabilities. They expressed their full

faith in his strong leadership and said that it

vouches for a bright and prosperous future for BOP.

While addressing the audience, Naeemuddin Khan,

President of BOP, thanked the stakeholders for

placing their trust in BOP and said that the bank

has successfully managed a turn around after

overcoming all challenges and now stands in the

same row as other profitable financial institutions

and banks of the country. PReSS ReleASe

CORPORATE CORNER

02

B

Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes.

It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with

improving your other innovations. — Steve Jobs

Major Gainers

CoMPany oPEn HIgH Low CLosE CHangE TUrnovErRafhan Maize SPOT 4452.54 4675.16 4675.00 4675.16 222.62 2,140Nestle Pak. XD 6580.00 6670.00 6650.00 6650.00 70.00 120Wyeth Pak Ltd 1634.46 1716.18 1641.00 1697.50 63.04 2,050Shezan Inter. 503.55 528.72 528.72 528.72 25.17 1,200Colgate Palmolive 1945.12 2040.00 1970.00 1970.00 24.88 450

Major LosersBata (Pak) XD 2270.28 2250.00 2156.77 2250.00 -20.28 1,000Island Textile 825.67 866.00 785.00 808.00 -17.67 600Bhanero Tex. 347.28 337.05 337.00 337.00 -10.28 400Fazal Textile 250.00 240.00 240.00 240.00 -10.00 200Abbott Lab. XD 279.25 289.00 269.00 272.74 -6.51 15,300

Volume Leaders

Fauji Cement 8.86 9.19 8.99 9.10 0.24 25,937,500TRG Pakistan Ltd. 10.82 10.64 9.90 10.18 -0.64 19,587,500P.T.C.L.A 17.92 17.72 17.00 17.46 -0.46 7,663,500Wateen Telecom Ltd 5.28 5.35 5.01 5.04 -0.24 6,927,000Maple Leaf Cement 18.54 19.05 18.64 18.79 0.25 6,243,500

Interbank RatesUSD PKR 98.3877GBP PKR 153.1995JPY PKR 1.0115EURO PKR 129.5569

ForexBUy sELL

UK Pound Sterling 153.25 154.75Euro 130 131Australian Dollar 102 102.75US Dollar 99.7 99.9Canadian Dollar 98.5 99.5Japanese Yen 1.0078 1.0164Saudi Riyal 26.55 26.85UAE Dirham 27.17 27.43China Yuan 15.95 16.15

ISLAMABAD: National Highway Authority arranged a public hearing regarding the new airport road.

The gathering was addressed by Asif Shuja, DG EPA, Naseem Afzal Baz and Dr Rubina Kosar. PR

KARACHI: Turkish Airlines General Manager

Huseyin Cepni presents gold medal and

certificate to winner of 7th International

Young Inventors Project Olympiad Manzar

Abbas, a student of Pak-Turk International

Schools and Colleges Karachi at Turkish

Airlines office on Thursday. STAFF PHOTO

KARACHI: Athar Siddiqui, Chief Manager

(Customers Services) SSGC, receives 8th

Consumers Choice Award in the category of

‘Best Utility Service Provider’. PR

Islamabad

PReSS ReleASe

PAKISTAN Telecommu-nication Company Lim-ited (PTCL) and BahriaTown have signed anMoU through which

PTCL will deploy InformationCommunication Technology(ICT) services and infrastructurein Bahria Enclave, Islamabad.

The agreement shall enable resi-dents of Bahria Enclave to experiencesuperior telecom services of PTCL in-cluding voice telephony, broadband in-ternet and SmartTV as well asPakistan’s fastest and most reliableEVO wireless broadband internet serv-ices. The agreement was signed byTariq Salman, Chief Technical Offi-cer PTCL and Maj Gen (r) ShaukatSultan, Executive Director BahriaTown in the presence of Walid Ir-shaid, President and CEO PTCL andMalik Riaz Hussain, Ex-ChairmanBahria Town. Dr. Riaz Inayat, PTCLExecutive Vice President (EVP)Network Development; Cdr. (R) M.Ilyas along with other senior officialsfrom PTCL and Bahria Town werealso present at the occasion.

Tariq Salman, Chief TechnicalOfficer PTCL while speaking at thesigning ceremony said, “We arepleased to partner with Bahria Town

and look forward to a cooperativeand mutually beneficial relationship.Over the years, PTCL has madeconcerted efforts to deploy world-class telecom infrastructure for thedevelopment of the country and itseconomy”. “Our goal is to enable oursociety to get the most benefit out ofour advanced ICT solutions and pro-vide our customers with value-cen-tric services”, he added further.

Maj Gen. (R) Shaukat Sultan, Ex-ecutive Director Bahria Town said atthe occasion, “It’s a matter of greatpride for Bahria Town to partner withPTCL, country’s largest and leadingtelecommunication services provider.We understand the needs for improve-

ment in the ICT sector, and for this rea-son out of the six fiber optic networksthat PTCL has deployed, this would bethe second one for Bahria town resi-dents. We plan to move forward withthe same spirit for future projects aswell”. PTCL would be using GPON(Fiber to the home) technology, con-sidered as the strongest candidate forwidespread deployments. BahriaTown would provide the space forPTCL Exchange building, EVOBTS Tower and indoor spacing forstaff along with the provision ofspace for PTCL Customer SupportCenter. Moreover, un-interruptedpower supply will also be ensured tothese facilities.

Samsung Mobileand filmmaker BazLuhrmann partnerto inspire passionthrough innovation

LAHORE: Samsung Electronics Co.,

Ltd., a global leader in digital media and

digital convergence technologies, and

film visionary Baz Luhrmann, today

announced a partnership created to

bring passion to life through innovation

and technology. At the onset of this

partnership is the unveiling of an

exclusive short film, created by

Lurhmann, which highlights his artistic

inspirations and illustrates how

technology has enhanced his creative

process. Samsung also announced

today its official sponsorship as the

exclusive technology partner at the

premiere of Warner Bros. Pictures’ and

Village Roadshow Pictures’ highly

anticipated film adaptation of “The

Great Gatsby,” in New York City on May

1, 2013. In this short narrative film,

available in the coming weeks,

Luhrmann describes his lifelong journey

of storytelling and filmmaking, from

inspirational moments with those that

have influenced him, to the role

technology plays throughout his

creative process. In observance of the

powerful ways that technology and

storytelling can change people’s lives

for the better, Luhrmann previews his

future collaborations with Samsung to

help foster passion within future

generations. PReSS ReleASe

Bahria Town inks MoU with PTCL for ICT services

ISLAMABAD: Tariq Salman, Chief Technical Officer PTCL

(Right) and Maj Gen (r) Shaukat Sultan, Executive Director

Bahria Town (Left) exchange documents after signing an

MoU for deployment of ICT services and infrastructure in

Bahria Enclave, Islamabad. Walid Irshad, President and CEO

PTCL (Centre) and Malik Riaz Hussain, Ex-Chairman Bahria

Town (3rd Right) are also present at the occasion. PR

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