Muhammad Sarfraz Abbasi

Friday, 2 Nov 2012 2:07 am    Strong cement sector essential for stock market uptrend News Comments (0) Shahab Jafry Thursday, 18 Oct 2012 8:29 am | Comments (0) Maintaining cement sector strength has become necessary for sustaining the uptrend in the equity market, especially as low growth and erratic input costs cramp the real economy, according to analysts and investors associated with the industry. After oil and gas, cement is the second biggest trading cluster at the KSE, and its strong showing in the last fiscal was central to the Index’s strength in H2-FY12. Mounting political and security threats, coupled with chronically low GDP growth, has left the bourse as the only platform still attracting meaningful foreign investment, something Is...

Pak Suzuki posts almost double profits By Our Correspondent Published: October 26, 2012 PSMC posted a loss of Rs193 million in the period, against analyst expectations of a profit.  KARACHI:  Pak Suzuki Motor Company (PSMC) has announced almost double profits for the 9MCY12 period, as compared to the same period last year, in its financial result announcement on Thursday. The company’s net profit has swelled to Rs1.17 billion in 9MCY12, as compared to Rs672 million in 9MCY11. Strong growth in the company’s net sales were the primary driver behind growth, which boomed 24% year-on-year (YoY) to Rs47.90 billion on the back of higher prices and number of units sold. “Exceptional volumes (up by 17% YoY) coupled with continuous price increases (of almost 7%) helped to keep the gross margins up by 90 basis points to 4.6% in the period under review,” said analyst Zoya Ahmed, who works with BMA ...

Corporate results: Lucky Cement profits jump half a billion By Raheel Ahmed   Published: October 26, 2012 Gross profit registered a massive rise of Rs33% to Rs3.87 billion. KARACHI:  Lucky Cement profits solidified at Rs2 billion in the first quarter of fiscal 2012-13, up 34% from Rs1.5 billion in the corresponding quarter last year. The robust growth in profitability primarily stems from a billion rupees rise in revenues, improving gross margins and retention prices, austerity measures of the company to cut costs, lower coal prices plus savings from energy efficient measures, said BMA Capital Analyst Affan Ismail. Revenues climbed 18% to touch Rs2 billion in the period under review. Better cement prices in the local market, up 11% from a year earlier, coupled with improvement in local dispatches remained the major driving force behind considerable increase in the top-line, says a BMA Capital rese...