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...

  Monthly car sales climb 4.3% By Raheel Ahmed Published: September 12, 2012 “The used cars are challenging the local automakers in both price and quality and continue to attract customers. PHOT:FILE  KARACHI:  Locally assembled car sales jumped 4.3% in August 2012 to 9,319 units, recovering from July’s slump of 8,937 units, according to the data released by the Pakistan Automotive Manufactures Association. The local automobile Industry has been witnessing its own recession mainly due to the conclusion of the Punjab government’s yellow cab scheme. The government had allocated Rs4.5 billion in fiscal 2012 for the provision of 20,000 yellow cabs to the youth of the province. The used cars are challenging the local automakers in both price and quality and continue to attract customers’ attention hurting local sales, according to Zoya Ahmed, analyst at BMA Capital. The share of imported cars increased phenomenally as more than...

Corporate results: DG Khan Cement profits jump twentyfold By Raheel Ahmed Published: September 11, 2012 Revenues for company surged 24% to Rs22.95 billion in fiscal 2012, against sales of Rs18.58 billion in corresponding period of previous year.  KARACHI:  Bouncing back from a torrid patch, DG Khan Cement’s profits for fiscal 2012 jumped from the millions, to billions – back in familiar territory. The company’s full-year results for fiscal 2012 clocked in better than market expectations, but analysts say the hefty gains may, in part, be attributable to a one-off tax reversal – which generally arises when tax relief is provided in advance of an expense. Other factors that improved the cement maker’s earnings were higher sales, improved gross margins, huge ‘other income’ and lower financial charges, said Sarfraz A...

Ringing alarm bells: Public-sector banks lead the pack in risky lending By Kazim Alam Published: August 30, 2012 According to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), net NPLs of public-sector banks stood at Rs98.2 billion as of June 30, 2012; up from Rs73.5 billion at the end of the third quarter of fiscal 2012 – a quarter-on-quarter rise of 33.6%. PHOTO: FILE  KARACHI:  The share of net non-performing loans (NPLs) in loans extended by all banks and development finance institutions (DFIs) has increased from 5.7% in the third quarter of fiscal 2012, to 6.1% in the fourth quarter. The public-sector banks segment is the largest contributor to the quarterly rise in net NPLs. NPLs usually refer to loans that are in default, or are close to a default. The term ‘net NPLs’, on the other hand, pertains to those loans against which banks have yet to make provisions for credit losses. In most...

Corporate results: Engro Corporation incurs loss of Rs135m By Our Correspondent Published: August 17, 2012 The new plant of Engro Fertilizers, the largest profit making subsidiary in 2011, operated for only 33 days due to gas shortage in the first six months of 2012. PHOTO: engrofertilizers.com  KARACHI:  The country’s largest conglomerate Engro Corporation reported a loss of Rs135 million in January to June 2012 following its largest subsidiary finding it hard to operate due to gas shortage. The new plant of Engro Fertilizers, the largest profit making subsidiary in 2011, operated for only 33 days due to gas shortage in the first six months of 2012. This, together with rising financial charges, pushed the company into losses for the second consecutive quarter. The manufacturer’s most recent balance sheet shows short-term borrowings in excess of Rs5.6 billion compared with negligib...