01

buSinESS

BSaturday, 2 February, 2013

Banks should help unleash SMEs potential to lift

economy. – APNA Bank Chairman Mian Shahid

ISLAMABAD

AGENCIES

PRIME Minister RajaPervez Ashraf hassaid that political con-sensus exists in Pak-istan on pursuingliberal economic poli-cies.

He was addressing a delegation ofKorean investors at Prime MinisterHouse.

He said all capital goods‚ machineryand equipment enjoy one-time exemptionfrom customs duties under Special Eco-nomic Zone Act. Besides‚ the investors

will be exempted from Income Tax for 10years.

The prime minister expressed satis-faction that bilateral trade between Pak-istan and Korea has steadily increased.However‚ he said trade between the twocountries does not commensurate with thepotential.

He said Pakistan can provide low-costand skilled labour to the Korean industry.

He hoped that Pakistani businessmenwould benefit from their Korean counter-parts and learn business management‚techniques and processes to put Pakistanon the trajectory of sustainable economicdevelopment.

Speaking on the occasion, Kim Chang

Gyou, Sr. MD LotteChemical Corporationwho was leading thedelegation thanked thePrime Minister forinviting them to PrimeMinister’s House.

Optimum powergeneration:

Meanwhile, PrimeMinister Ashraf has di-rected officials con-cerned to ensure optimumgeneration of electricity.

He was presid-ing over ahigh- levelmeeting atP r i m eMin i s t e rHouse toreviewt h ee n -

ergy situation in the country.The meeting was informed that the

cost of electricity has increased due to itsdependence on generation from oil. Themeeting was told that the government hasinjected a sum of Rs. 1.4 Trillion in theenergy sector in the last five years to sub-sidize electricity and ensure that that thecommon man is not burdened by risingelectricity prices.

The prime minister directed the Min-istry of water and Power to ensure opti-mum generation so that power supply toconsumer remains unaffected.

The PM also directed the Ministry ofWater and Power to constantly monitor

the fuel availability and stocks situa-tion in thermal power plants so that

they remain operative. In this con-nection, he directed Ministry ofWater and Power to closely co-ordinate with Ministry of Petro-leum and Natural Resources andMinistry of Finance.

The meeting was also in-formed that an interim report onthe reasons behind the power

break-down of February 25will be submitted to

the Prime Min-ister on

Monday.

KARACHI

ISMAIL DILAWAR

To lure the TRECH holding members to-wards market making the Karachi StockExchange (KSE) has announced a cashreward ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs100,000 to be paid by the end of everymonth to the best performing marketmakers.

“The Exchange is now offering a fi-nancial attractive incentive scheme for alimited time,” said the front regulatorsat KSE in a notice while inviting the allTRECH holding members to apply forbecoming KSE’s designated marketmakers.

The KSE invited applications fromthe market participants and TREC hold-

ing members for becoming market mak-ers in any of the eligible instruments inStock Index or Cash Settled SingleStock Futures.

Under the Exchange’s incentivescheme cash rewards would be paid tothe KSE-approved market makers on thebasis of their Trade Execution Commit-ment (TEC) implying the number ofopen contracts at the end of every dayduring the month. The least number ofunique clients or UINs set ranges from10 to 100 for a month.

The market makers executing 90 to99 trade commitments with 10 clients orUINs would get Rs 10,000 while thoseensuring 900 and above TECs would berewarded with Rs 100,000.

“This incentive scheme is limited

and is offered on a first come first servebasis for each of Single Stock Cash Set-tled Futures Scrip or the Index Futures,”the KSE notice said.

Adding during the tenure thescheme, the counter already chosen andactivated by a KSE approved marketmaker would not be available to anyother TREC holder under the scheme inquestion for the duration of scheme.

Enticing the members to apply forthe market making job, the KSE under-lined a number of benefits the memberswould be getting out of becoming themarket makers.

“This presents a great opportunity toTREC holders to broaden their productrange and client base to generate addi-tional brokerage income beyond tradi-

tional business,” it said. It said one ofthe basic benefits for market maker wasthat the Exchange would forgo its trans-action fee (LAGA) for it besides passingon the transaction fee obtained from thecounterpart to the market maker for aninitial period of time, e.g. 1 year.

“Besides the direct monetary benefitfrom the above, the market maker alsoenables his clients to hedge or take po-sitions (long + short) in the Single StockCash Settled and Stock Index FutureContracts,” it added.

Dwelling on why the KSE neededmarket makers, the Exchange said theactivation of market makers would gen-erate liquidity and depth for the boursethereby facilitating smooth entry andexit while optimizing impact cost.

Setting March 20 as a deadline forsubmission of the Expressions of Inter-est, the KSE also attached with the no-tice a list of the eligible scrips formarket making in the Cash Settled Fu-tures that includes Fauji Fertilizer,OGCL, Pakistan Oilfield Limited, PakPetroleum, MCB Bank, Engro, LuckyCement, DG Khan Cement, PSO, NBP,Engro Foods, Hub Power, Attock Refin-ery, Nishat Mills, UBL, FFBL, FA-TIMA, PTC, Bank Al-Habib, BankAl-Falah, Adamjee Insurance, ArifHabib Corp, KAPCO, Askari Bank, Da-wood Hercules, FCCL, LOTPTA,CHCC, PAKRI, NCL, NCPL, NPL andNETSOL.

The eligible indices listed includeKSE-30, BKTI and OGTI.

KSE offers monthly cash rewards for best performing market makers

increased raw

material supply boosts

Psm output to 38pc

KARACHI: The uninterrupted arrivalof raw material has increased the pro-duction of Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM)to 38 percent, said a spokesman ofPSM. He said the coal and iron oreships created an improved stock posi-tion of PSM raw materials. “This re-sulted in a good increase in productionactivity of PSM as it crossed 30 per-cent production and all praise to Allah(SWT) yesterday (Feb 28) the PSMachieved production at 37.7%,” hesaid. The PSM management is tryingto reach at 60% production level innext few months if the required facili-ties were provided on timely. “ThePSM ensures to become a profitableentity by the grace of Allah (SWT)within a few months,” the spokesmansaid. STAFF REPORT

Pol removed fromDFc, csF contracttrading list

KARACHI: The front regulators at

Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) have re-

moved the Pakistan Oilfiled Limited

(POL) from the list of eligible securities

for contract trading under Deliverable Fu-

tures Contract (DFC) and Cash-Settled

Futures (CSF) markets.

The oil giant has attracted the ire of regu-

lators for its failure to meet the uniform

criteria under which the firms listed on

DFC and CSF markets must maintain on

average 0.25 percent of the total average

volume on the ready market of 100 se-

lected scrips.

“Please note that (the) above security

would be excluded from list of eligible se-

curities for trading in DFC and CSF mar-

kets,” said a KSE notice issued here

Friday.

The POL’s removal would take effect

from the opening of DFC of June 2013

(Dec-June 2013) and CSF of July 2013

(CSF July 2013) contract, the notice said.

STAFF REPORT

Ptcl launches

smart tV app for

eVo customers

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Telecommunica-tion Company Limited (PTCL) haslaunched a standalone application enablingits EVO customers to access digital televi-sion service on their PCs, laptops andsmartphones. The unique service of PTCLSmart TV PC application has brought Pak-istan in the list of a few countries across theglobe, where digital TV services are acces-sible on laptops, PCs and Smartphones.With this PTCL offer, Smart TVPC applica-tion allows customers to be more interactiveand more in control with their TV service ascompared to conventional TV broadcast orcable TV. The PTCL Smart TV applicationenables its viewers to watch content of last7 Days of the available 12 TV channels. Italso allows the viewers to record the TVprograms on their local storage. OmarKhalid, PTCL Executive Vice President(EVP) Wireless Business, said “PTCLSmart TV application will enable its EVOcustomers to experience multi-screen view-ing and uninterruptable rich live content ontheir PC screens.” “Customers can access12 TV channels through EVO Wingle, EVODongle, EVO Nitro, EVO Cloud and EVOTab” Omar added. NNI

KARACHI

STAFF REPORT

Ever since hitting rock bottom inFY11, the country’s cement sectorhas witnessed a reversal in fortunes,said market analysts. “Improvedmargin scenario backed by higherretention prices and lower coal costcoupled with reduced interest rateenvironment reflected positively onsector’s profitability,” said the ana-lyst at Tolpine Research.

During 1HFY13, they said, thesector posted profit growth of 209%to Rs16.4bn as against Rs5.3bn dur-ing the same period last year. Oursample includes 15 companies thatrepresents 95% of listed cementcompanies’ market cap.

During the period under review,cement sector posted topline ofRs82.6bn as against Rs68.0bn in thesame period last year, depictinggrowth of 21%.

The prime growth driver re-mained 17% escalation in price of thecommodity as estimated net retentionprices rose to Rs310 per bag versesRs266 in 1HFY12. In addition, 4%volumetric variance also played itsdue role with high margin domesticdispatches rising by 10%. Exports onthe other hand declined by 7%.

Support to profitability alsocame from 24% decline in coalprices that account 40% for sector’sproduction cost. Subsequently, grossmargins improved by significant9pps to 36% in 1HFY13 as against27% in same period last year.

Lastly, reduced interest rate alsoboded well for sector’s profitability.As 450bps reduction in the policyrate by central bank from June 2011culminated into 32% reduction inthe financial charges of the sector toRs4.2bn. Reduction in financialcharges coupled with follow throughimpact of topline growth hasstrengthened sector’s interest cover-age ratio to 6x.

Among all participants, bigplayers like DGKC, BWCL andLUCK stood out, having cumulativeshare of 57% of sector’s bottom-line. Profitably of DGKC grew by128% or Rs1.6bn, while BWCL postbottom-line growth of 202% orRs1.4bn and LUCK’s profits wereup by 42% or Rs1.2bn. However,MLCF and FCCL remained theprime performers successfullyturned their respective losses ofRs223mn and Rs50mn during sameprevious year into profits of Rs1.4bnand Rs0.9bn respectively during1HFY13.

Cement profits tripled in first half of FY13

Political consensus on Pursuing liberaleconomic Policies: Pm

AshrAf directs Ministry of WAter And PoWer to constAntly Monitor fuel AvAilAbility Andstocks situAtion in therMAl PoWer PlAnts so thAt they reMAin oPerAtive

PRO 02-03-2013_Layout 1 3/2/2013 12:54 AM Page 1

buSinESSSaturday, 2 February, 2013

RAWALPINDI: Ole E Moesb, Danish Ambassador

in Pakistan, being received by Sheharyar Mirza,

General Manager Pearl Continental Hotel

Rawalpindi, upon his arrival. PR

mysolutions to launchnext generation sharedmobile payments network

KARACHI: My Solutions, a technology firm

servicing financial institutions has signed an

agreement with Activa Financial Ltd., a leading

mobile banking and payments service provider. The

agreement will allow My Solutions to offer Activa’s

mobile banking platform “Nexus360” to ALL

domestic and foreign banks and financial

institutions throughout Pakistan. Nexus360 is a

robust, cost efficient, secure, resilient, and scalable

mobile banking solution. The solution utilizes

existing industry platforms and mobile carrier

infrastructures to create a collaborative “network”

that brings together financial institutions, mobile

carriers, payments networks and billers into one

mutually beneficial environment. Therefore time-to-

market and cost involved in launching a mobile

banking service is minimized. A key advantage is

that the bank does not require any additional

software or technology and the solution is

compatible across all wireless carriers. PR

Hbl approves interim dividendKARACHI: HBL Asset Management Limited

approves 6th Interim dividend for HBL Money

Market Fund and HBL Islamic Money Market Fund

for the year ending June 30, 2013. We are pleased

to announce that the Chief Executive, under the

authority of the Board of Directors of HBL Asset

Management Limited, has approved a dividend

payout of Rs 0.59 per unit from HBL Money Market

Fund and Rs 0.52 per unit from HBL Islamic Money

Market Fund for the year ending June 30, 2013.

Unit Holders who have opted for cash payout will

receive cash dividend while those who have opted

for bonus will be allocated bonus units in

accordance with their entitlement. PR

lucky cement winsnational csr award

KARACHI: Lucky Cement won the 7th CSR

National Award in the category of “Supporting and

improving the education” in Pakistan. The CSR

Association publicly announced the award at a

ceremony held at Indus Valley School, Karachi. The

ceremony was attended by representatives from

different organizations including philanthropists,

senior executives, CEOs of participating companies,

as well as officials from United Nations

Organization. Setting itself apart from other

programs in the region, the Pakistan National CSR

Awards targeted the core of CSR practice rather

than individual projects. 19 companies were

shortlisted for evaluation from the 104 entries by

an elite panel of experts which this year included

Amir Adnan andDr. Abdul Bari Khan among the 12-

strong international panel. Lucky Cement Limited

was lauded for its efforts in rendering support to a

large number of educational institutes in the

country including Institute of Business Management

(IoBM), Institute of Business Administration (IBA),

Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS),

Gomal University, Indus Valley School (IVS) and

Hub School. The company has also partnered with

NGOs working in the under-privileged areas like

Concern for Children, Deaf Reach School and

LABARD. PR

rory mcilroy signs with

bose corporationKARACHI: Bose Corporation announced at The

Honda Classic in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida that

Rory McIlroy will be a Global Brand Ambassador for

the company’s headphones, portable speakers,

home and automotive systems. McIlroy joins Bose

in a multi-year agreement as he begins 2013 as the

number one golfer in the world. A lifelong music

lover, McIlroy has been a Bose customer for years.

“I’ve always chosen Bose because I’ve always

wanted the best sound quality I could get,” said

McIlroy. “Bose products are different. And Bose is

different. They work hard at their innovations, they

aren’t conventional, and they’re committed to doing

things that haven’t been done before, just like I

am.” PR

german solar companyinvesting in PakistanISLAMABAD: Representatives of the German

solar company DEQ-SYS GmbH, a subsidiary of

Energiequelle GmbH, which is based in the state

ofBrandenburg, visited Lahore and Islamabad

from 23 February to 1 March 2013. The

company designs, plans and installs turnkey

wind turbines, biogas systems, solar power

plants and substations for grid feeding eco-

friendly power. After visiting Lahore, meeting

with stakeholders of the Punjab Government

and signing a MOU over 400 MW solar energy,

the delegation visited the Embassy, exchanged

views with PPIB (Public Power and Infrastructure

Board), Germany’s Development Agency GIZ

and KfW Development Bank as well as with

other German companies being active in the

renewable energy sector. PR

CORPORATE CORNER

02

BPOL price hike will halt industrial growth, destroy

economy. – RCCI President Manzar Khurshid Sheikh

Major Gainers

COMPANY OPEN HIGH LOW CLOSE CHANGE TURNOVERunilever Pak 10450.00 10800.00 10750.00 10750.00 300.00 80indus dyeing sd 440.00 461.99 459.00 460.50 20.50 200colgate Palmolive 1600.00 1620.00 1600.00 1620.00 20.00 150sanofi-Aventis Pak 357.00 374.84 374.84 374.84 17.84 200indus Motor co 295.00 309.75 294.00 307.32 12.32 57,700

Major LosersWyeth Pak limited 960.00 912.00 912.00 912.00 -48.00 300Mithchellsfruit XdXb 326.90 325.00 314.00 314.00 -12.90 300Millat tractors XdXb 525.27 526.66 515.00 515.00 -10.27 114,300Abbott lab. 218.94 220.00 209.00 209.60 -9.34 36,300Murree brewery 162.00 160.50 153.90 154.63 -7.37 34,500

Volume Leaders

fauji cement 7.92 8.79 7.85 8.54 0.62 113,685,500Azgard nine 8.76 9.40 8.30 8.36 -0.40 26,788,000P.t.c.l.A 23.44 23.72 22.93 23.32 -0.12 23,160,500telecard limited 7.41 7.45 6.81 6.97 -0.44 20,368,000P.i.A.c.(A) 6.32 7.32 6.35 7.09 0.77 19,789,500

interbank Ratesusd Pkr 98.2393gbP Pkr 147.7127jPy Pkr 1.0572euro Pkr 128.1238

ForexBUY SELL

us dollar 99.10 99.35 euro 128.29 128.49 great britain Pound 148.18 148.38 japanese yen 1.0572 1.0684 canadian dollar 95.06 96.75 hong kong dollar 12.53 12.79 uAe dirham 26.90 27.15 saudi riyal 26.38 26.60

samsung inaugurates brand shop at thokar niaz baig

LAHORE: Samsung Electronics, a market leader and award-winning innovator in consumer electronics,

and telecommunications, is consistently expanding its network of ‘Brand Shops’ in numerous cities across

Pakistan. A special inauguration ceremony was held on 1st March, 2013, at a new Brand Shop,

established recently at the Metro Cash & Carry Market in Thokar Niaz Baig area of Lahore. Managing

Director of Samsung EC Pakistan Pvt. Ltd. - Mr. John Park inaugurated the shop and remarked; “The

Samsung Brand Shop is a revolutionary business model for the Samsung Retail Brand, from where all

retailers can learn and emulate to build a consistent branding approach. The new brand shop will provide

world-class retail experiences to the consumers.” PR

ISLAMABAD

INP

DUE to saturation of currentindustrial estates and non-availability of a new indus-trial estate in Islamabad,many investors of Potoharregion were shifting to otherplaces. Therefore, Punjab

Industrial Estate should provide its support for set-ting up of a new industrial estate in this region.

This was observed by Zafar Bakhtawari, Pres-ident, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Indus-try while exchanging views with Maj. Gen. (Retd)Javed Iqbal, CEO of Punjab Industrial Estates De-velopment and Management Company during hisvisit to ICCI. He suggested Nila Dulla Interchangenear Chakri on motorway in District Chakwal asthe best place for setting up new industrial estateas this area offered land at a very affordable cost.He said the industrial estate would bring prosperity,reduce poverty and create plenty of job opportuni-ties for the people of this backward area. He saidICCI was already working for industrial estate inthis area and Punjab Industrial Estates should col-laborate with us for early execution of this project.

Bakhtawari said that Potohar Region had nei-ther agriculture nor any other natural resources

while the population of twin cities was growingfast. Thus encouraging industrialization in this areawas the best option to create jobs and promote eco-nomic activities. He said Potohar Region also of-fered easy access to Afghanistan, China and CentralAsian States and industrial estate in this area wouldpromote exports of Pakistan to these countries.

Maj Gen (r) Javed Iqbal, CEO, Punjab Indus-trial Estates (PIE) briefed business communityabout the PIE role. He said PIE was focused on de-veloping a chain of industrial estates by capitaliz-ing on proposed & existing industrial andagricultural strengths of Punjab and Pakistan. Hesaid industrialization was the future of Pakistanand government should give top priority to ad-dressing energy problems for promotion of indus-try in the country.

icci demands newindustrial estate forPotohar region

Higher fuel prices toincrease cost ofproduction: FPcci

LAHORE: Fed-eration of Pak-

istanChamber ofCommerceand Indus-try(FPCCI)

has statedthat increased

prices of petro-leum products

would push cost of pro-duction and eventually lead to cuts in exportorders. President FPCCI,Fazal Qadir Sheranisaid that higher prices of petroleum productshave affected the industrial sector, especiallythe manufacturers, already hit by high inputcosts. He said that in addition to this,gas/power load shedding as well as weakPak rupee against dollar is also affecting thework. “All this would hamper industrial pro-duction in the country,” he said. Vice Presi-dent SAARC Chamber of Commerce andIndustry and veteran trade leader Iftikhar AliMalik said that the industry is already facingenergy crisis, and higher electricity tariffsand prices of petroleum at this critical junc-ture would squeeze the liquidity. He said thathigh tariff of power, gas and petroleum havecreated another liquidity crunch for the im-porters of industrial raw material. He sug-gested that keeping in view the businessscenario of the world, the mark up rate bybanks be reduced to provide solace to hardhit industry. He called for immediate meas-ures in the interest of national industry. APP

industries Are AlreAdy fAcing energy

crisis And higher electricity tAriffs

And Prices of PetroleuM At thiscriticAl juncture

Would squeeze theliquidity. iftikhAr

Ali MAlik

PRO 02-03-2013_Layout 1 3/2/2013 12:54 AM Page 2