profit.com.pk

Another appallingplunge Page 02

Thursday, 05 April, 2012

KARACHI

GHULAM ABBAS

PakISTan’S export ofmarble which wasincreased by 68 percentduring last financial year

has reduced by over 20 percentduring the last 9 month of thecurrent financial year due to thedeteriorated law and ordersituation and severe energy crisisin the country.The important industry which waseying to fetch at least $1 billionworth exports this year after theincreased demands in china andother countries, has startedshowing alarming position ofnegative growth as the countryhas hardly exported the marble ofworth $ 26.77 million during Julyto March 2011-2012 against theexport of $ 33.75 million recordedduring the corresponding monthsof last fiscal year.according to a fresh data providedby marble exporters, over 20

percent decline was recordedduring the nine months whilefurther decline was expected inremaining months of the financialyear 2012 as security situation inthe country especially in karachiwas a big concern for the marbleexporters. Besides the hours longpower outages which haveparalyzed the production andfunction of the industry wereanother major reason of loses tothe exporters.according to Sanaullah khanchairman, all Pakistan MarbleMining, Processing and ExportIndustry, the industries in Qasbacolony area of karachi whichremained a flash point during theviolence erupted in the city lastyear making the whole industrialunits dysfunctional, have badlyaffected the over all exports ofmarble. The ongoing extortionand other criminal activities inthe industrial area were alsoforcing the industry owners toclose the units.

He said that it had become aroutine that unidentifiedindividuals enter the factories andhand over extortion slips of heavyamounts. In other cases, somepeople also phone theindustrialists seeking hugemoney. In case of non-compliancethese elements resort to firing atthe factories.Though three police stationsusually cover Mangophir and itssurrounding areas but theyfailed in providing effectivesecurity to the industries. Heclaimed that many industrialistshave stopped visiting their unitsfor security reasons.Due to the power crisis during thelast couple of months, theindustry has been pushed furthertowards at least $ 7 million lossesas its total exports by March 2012has been recorded $ 26.77 millionagainst the $ 33.75 millionregistered during thecorresponding months of 2011.The country has exported marble

worth $ 19 million against thetarget of $ 30 million during Julyto January (2011-2012). Theexport of highly valued marble,under the present situation, wasunlikely to meet even the reducedtarget of $ 60 million during thecurrent financial year.He feared that exporters will missthe export target of $50 million ofmarble export in the current fiscalyear due to deteriorating law andorder and power outages, which iscrippling production activities.Pakistan’s marble exports fetched$45 million in 2010-2011 and inJuly-February 2011-2012 exportstood only $22 million.according to him, the countrycould hardly export marbleworth $ 35 million to $ 40million during the year endedJune 2012 against the targetwhich has already been reducedto $ 60 million from $ 100million owing to the acuteelectricity crisis and poor lawand order situation in karachi.

g marble export declines by 20pc in 9 months

Exporterslosing theirmarbles

Saarc has got the free trade bit right atleast. There’s much to learn from thebody’s move to standardise product

quality in preparation of free trade in foodcommodities. That it has been forgotten as theessential prerequisite for falling trade barriersshows how much international trade dynamicshave been skewed ever since WTO’s Doha roundwent off track more than a decade ago. Strangerstill is the fact that it took eight years fornegotiations to reach near-fruition. commonsince obviously has its limits.Once South asia has got a handle on foodcommodity standardisation, it is essential tomove on to other commodity ranges soonerrather than later. Till recently, asia was creditedwith engineering the international bottoming outafter the severity of the ’08 recession. But withchina revising growth downward and Indiarecording slowing industrial expansion, asiarisks losing significance in a world whereEurope’s sovereign debt crisis refuses to go away,US recovery is fragile at best, and high oil pricesthreaten to derail much of the cross-atlanticquantitative easing relief.Opportunities that present themselves todaymust be exploited forcefully. Once Saarcsmoothens out other free trade essentials, therewill be a quantum jump in trade within the fewcountries that comprise the union. The currentwave of unprecedented Pak-India tradeenhancement is another example ofopportunities that must be built upon. asia’seconomies need each other. Technically theinternational recession may have ended themoment two consecutive quarters failed toregister negative growth, but its hangover willtrouble international financial linkages for sometime to come. It’s not even worth the trouble toquote Europe’s example anymore, so clichéd ithas become. Our neck of the woods, long used topostures of political and financial confrontation,still features broadly weak systems andinstitutions (one of the reasons for the eight yeardelay). But the signs are good. If Saarc’sinitiative is successful, numerous similar tradingblocs will mushroom in no time. They have gotthe basics right.

comment

Free trade requirements

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news02Thursday, 05 April, 2012

LAHORE

STAFF REPORT

THE Lahore chamber ofcommerce and Industryhas urged the governmentto immediately stop

unscheduled loadshedding asdespite repeated assurances by theauthorities the electricity situationis worsening and power-relatedriots are a daily occurrence. In astatement issued here Wednesday,the LccI President Irfan QaiserSheikh, Senior Vice President kashifYounis Meher and Vice PresidentSaeeda nazar said that they fear ananarchy-like situation in the countryif appropriate measures are nottaken to overcome unprecedentedlong hours forced closures.They said that law and ordersituation is bound to aggravate inthe coming days as over 12 hourpower outages in the industrialestates is jacking up the graph ofunemployment particularly hittingthe daily wagers hard.The LccI office-bearers said thatthe most of industrial units hadalready reduced their working to

single six-hour shift from theprevious three shifts system. Thishad led to increased level of raw-material wastage, makingproduction process non-profitable.now the leading industrial unitswere experiencing losses despitebeing managed professionally.The crisis in industrial sector is notonly causing flight of capital andrelocation of industrial units to thecountries like Bangladesh andMalaysia but had also reducedgovernment revenues drastically.They said that a similar situationhad erupted about two years ago butthat was resolved with the help ofthe business community who lent alot of input in developing a viableload management plan. “LccI-LEScO Dispute resolutioncommittee and LccI-LEScO Loadmanagement committees used tohave regular meetings to overseeand overcome the situationpromptly”, they said and added thatthese committees need to be revivedand reactivated urgently andimmediately so that the issues couldbe discussed and tackled in an openminded manner.

The LccI office-bearers urged thePresident and Prime Minister totake notice of this grave situationand act promptly act to saveindustrial and social fabric of thecountry. They said that thegovernment should share its energyplan with the LccI as the highest-ever electricity tariff and poweroutages have crippled both the tradeand industry. “How the governmentwould establish its writ and fromwhere it would collect revenues torun its day-to-day affairs when theindustrial wheel is coming to agrinding halt.” The LccI office-bearers said that the governmentshould understand that economicwell being is a must for democracy.Unemployment, price-hikes,industrial closures always give birthto lawlessness and anarchy.Therefore, the government shouldunderstand the ground realities andreset its priorities. They said that itis astonishing that on the one handthe government circles were talkingof economic stability in 2012 whileon the other hand they were notsharing any kind of roadmap toachieve this goal.

LccI’s John Rambo momentg Lashes out at power outagesg Launches blitzkrieg of ramifications

KARACHI

ISMAIL DILAWAR

THE federal governmentWednesday borrowed over rs139 billion from thescheduled banks to cater its

ever increasing budgetary needs. Thefresh borrowing was made throughthe State Bank of Pakistan whichauctioned the market treasury bills(MTBs) worth over rs 139.182 billion.The government papers sold out tothe risk-averse banks are of 03-, 06-and 12-month maturity period againstwhich the central bank, respectively,raised rs 91.031 billion, rs 45.319billion and rs 2.832 billion.The cut-off yield for the T-bills was11.8742, 11.9420 and 11.9396 percent.While the weighted average yield forthe three maturity periods was set at11.8670, 11.9279 and 11.9396 percent,respectively.In line with their current risk-averse

behavior the banks had submittedbids accumulating to rs 192.582billion but the federal financeministry, through the State Bank,accepted bids of rs 139.182 billiononly.The banks had bid to extend a loan ofrs 126.831 against the securitiesmaturing in three months, rs 57.319billion for six months and rs 8.432billion for 12 months.The banks’ inclination towards short-term investment shows theirrisk-averse behavior which the officialand unofficial analysts believe wouldadversely impact the economic growthprospects in the country.While the economic observers warnagainst the government’s increasedreliance on bank borrowings, thecash-strapped government hastargeted to sell the government papersamounting to over rs 1 trillion duringthe ongoing last quarter, april-June,of FY12.

BRIdGeS BuRn

So fellas got some dough on ya?

KARACHI

STAFF REPORT

akISTan has been ranked 102,dropping 14 points, by the WorldEconomic Forum (WEF) in itsGlobal Information Technology

report 2012 (GITr-2012).Mishal in partnership with WEF releasedPakistan’s ranking on the GITr-2012measuring the network readiness Indexof 142 economies over 10 different pillars.“The lack of seriousness from thegovernment of Pakistan reflects in theGlobal Information Technology report2012 of the World Economic Forum,” saidthe report. It said the Ministry of Telecomand Information Technology beingheaded by Syed Yousuf raza Gilani, PrimeMinister of Pakistan; shows lack ofefficiency and poor governance at the partof the Government of Pakistan.Despite efforts over the past decade todevelop information and communicationstechnologies (IcT) infrastructure indeveloping economies, a new digitaldivide in terms of IcT impacts persists,said the latest rankings of the GITr-2012titled “Living in a Hyper connectedWorld”.The GITr indicates Pakistan’s challengesand opportunities on 10 different pillars,where the country has not been able toshow any remarkable improvement in theprevious year.Pakistan lost its competitive advantage onthe fixed broadband internet tariffs,where it dropped the ranking from 36 in2011 to 79 in 2012, which meansresidential monthly fee in terms ofpurchasing power parity (PPP), the reportsaid.adding the extent of information andcommunications technologies improvingaccess for all citizens to basic services(health, education, financial services, etc.)also took a dip to 113 with losing 30 pointsfrom last year. Government prioritizing ofIcT also achieved a rank of 103 from 83last year, making a variation of 20 points.a serious concern and bottleneck on

Pakistan’s business and entrepreneurshipinitiatives have been identified by theGITr on Pakistan’s policies on the taxregime introduced in 2011, this actuallysum of profit tax, labor tax and socialcontributions, property taxes, turnovertaxes, and other taxes, as a share(percent) of commercial profits, Pakistanstood 58 this year from 39 last out of 142economies in the world.The GITr also identified that the extent ofinformation and communicationtechnologies creating new organizationalmodels are also weakening in Pakistan,going 81 from 63 last year.However, Pakistan improved itscompetitiveness in certain areasincluding, efficiency of the legal system inchallenging regulations, where Pakistanimproved from 95 in 2011 to 79 in 2012out of 142 countries. The judicialindependence was also highlighted as oneof the advantages in Pakistan, where theimprovements were made on 11 points,thus ranking Pakistan at 62 in the world.The effectiveness of the law making bodyhas also improved 9 points, with a rankingof 93 this year.The quality of education system and thecapacity for innovation also showsimprovement of 7 points each ranking at79 and 51 respectively.On the ten pillars of the GITr-2012,out of 142 countries Pakistan scored asfollows: on the 1st pillar; Political andregulatory environment (110), 2ndpillar; business and innovationenvironment (96); infrastructure and

digital content (108); 3rd pillar doingwell on the affordability pillar (26); 5thpillar; Skills (129), 6th pillar;individual usage (104); 7th pillar;business usage (96), 8th pillar;government usage (103); 9th pillar;economic impacts (94) and on the 10thpillar; of social impacts (99). Swedenstood (1st) and Singapore (2nd) top therankings in this year’s report inleveraging information andcommunications technologies to boostcountry competitiveness. Switzerland(5th), the netherlands (6th), the UnitedStates (8th), canada (9th) and theUnited kingdom (10th) also showstrong performances in the top 10.However, IcT readiness in sub-Saharanafrica is still low, with most countriesshowing significant lags in connectivitydue to insufficient development of IcTinfrastructure, which remains too costly,and displaying poor skill levels that do notallow for an efficient use of the availabletechnology. Even in those countries whereIcT infrastructure has been improved,IcT-driven impacts on competitivenessand well-being trail behind, resulting in anew digital divide.Despite improvements in many drivers ofcompetitiveness, the BrIcS countries–led by china (51st) – still face importantchallenges to more fully adopt andleverage IcT. an insufficient skills baseand institutional weaknesses, especially inthe business environment, present anumber of shortcomings that stifleentrepreneurship and innovation.

LAHORE

STAFF REPORT

THE French ambassador toPakistan Philippe Thiebaudtoday visited WaPDa House

and attended a briefing about variousprojects being implemented byWaPDa in water and hydropowersectors. He was also accompanied bythe French Development agency(aFD) country Director nicolasFomage and Project Manager naumanBhutta. The French ambassador saidthat his country was keen to supportPakistan in projects viz waterdevelopment, irrigation and electricitygeneration. He said that the process toprovide funds for Munda Dam Projectwas being speeded up and would becompleted as early as possible. aFD isalso working in close coordination withthe German counterpart for financial

assistance to construct Harpo andBasho hydropower projects, he furthersaid. Speaking on the occasion,WaPDa chairman Shakil Durrani saidthat WaPDa was indebted to thepeople and Government of France fortheir support in providing assistancefor water and hydropower projects,vital for socio-economic developmentof the people of Pakistan. He expressedthe hope that France would also extendher cooperation in the future projectsas well.referring to the Munda Dammultipurpose project in FaTa,WaPDa chairman said that theproject, approved by the Planningcommission last week, would helpcontrol floods, ensure availability ofwater for irrigated agriculture andprovide 740 MW low cost hydelelectricity. Munda Dam, being amultipurpose project, has excellentrate of returns, he added.currently, aFD is providing 25 millioneuros for rehabilitation andupgradation of Jabban hydropowerproject in Malakand. In addition, aFDhas also shown keen interest to providefunds for Munda Dam multipurposeproject in Mohmand agency, andHarpo and Basho hydropower projectsin Gilgit Baltistan. It is pertinent tomention that the case for financialassistance to Munda Dam project isbeing forwarded to aFD Board ofDirectors for formal approval.

Another appalling plungeg Pakistan drops 14 points on GItR-2012 ranking for poor governanceg Ranked 102 by WeF in Global Information technology Report

Déjà vu g France keen to fund

Munda Dam, Harpo, Bashohydel projects: Envoy

KARACHI

STAFF REPORT

TraDE Development authorityof Pakistan organized aseminar at rawalpindi

chamber of commerce & Industry onTrade normalization with India. It wasthe first of the series of ten Seminarsbeing arranged by TDaP in differentcities to educate the businesscommunity about the challenges andopportunities resulting from the newtrade regime between India andPakistan.Manzoor ahmad, Former ambassadorof Pakistan to WTO gave an overviewof the trade normalization processbetween India and Pakistan. He was ofthe opinion that smaller countries canalso gain advantage by developing

trade relations with bigger economies.He cited the example of Turkey andMexico which gained tremendouslyafter enhancing their trade relationswith EU and US respectively. He washopeful that the agreements on mutualrecognition and customs cooperationbeing signed between India andPakistan would help in removing thenon tariff barrier being imposed by theIndian Government. Javed akhtarBhatti, President, rawalpindichamber of commerce & Industryexpressed his apprehensions whetherPakistan was geared enough to benefitfrom trade normalization with India inthe wake of power shortage and weakregulatory structures within thecountry. He however, agreed with thesignificance of regional trade ineconomic development of a country.

Here’s why smaller countries shoulddevelop trade with bigger economies

g Government borrows over Rs139 billion from banks to bridge budget deficit

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news

Thursday, 05 April, 2012

03

Inauguration of orient centre, Shalimar Branch

LAHORE: Orient Group takes deep pride in the fact that its pri-mary mission is to equip the Pakistani household with the latest elec-tronics and provide its customers with the best technical supportafter purchase. Such was the statement by Mr. ahmad Fazal, Exec-utive Director of Orient Group of companies at the inauguration ofthe Orient centre, Shalimar Branch. On the occasion, the DirectorMarketing of Orient Group of companies, Mr. abdul rehman Talatsaid that in order to facilitate its customers, Orient is launching theOrient centre so that an independent retail chain network can beexpanded. He further said that Orient wishes to spread this networknationwide so that our primary mission is complete. Uptil now manysimilar centres have been established. PRESS RELEASE

etihad Airways adds 500,000 passengers LAHORE: Etihad airways, the national airline of the United arabEmirates, continued its industry-leading growth in the first quarter of2012, with a 28 per cent rise in revenue to US$ 989 million over thecorresponding period in 2011 and passenger numbers soaring by500,000 to 2.4 million. Etihad airways President and chief ExecutiveOfficer, James Hogan, said: “Despite the tough economic times we be-lieve our business model of organic network growth combined withcodeshare partnerships and strategic equity investments will enableus to continue to ensure sustainable profitability. Our seat factor hasnow hit a record high.” Etihad has announced a daily service to its firstSouth america destination and new services to Vietnam, Basra andLagos, with increased flight frequencies to Düsseldorf, Bangkok, cairo,kuwait, and Dammam. Etihad now has a worldwide network thatstretches across 84 cities in 54 countries and 6 continents. PRESS RELEASE

CORPORATE CORNER

Major Gainers

Company Open High Low Close Change Turnover

Wyeth Pak Ltd.XD 745.00 772.71 708.01 772.71 27.71 101Tri-Pack Films XD 195.66 204.88 197.00 203.72 8.06 14,029Attock PetroleumXD 454.59 464.80 451.50 462.51 7.92 115,905Pak.Int.ContXD SD 140.13 147.13 139.00 146.93 6.80 103,470Sapphire Fiber 128.21 134.62 134.62 134.62 6.41 5

Major Losers

Colgate Palmolive 814.68 776.00 775.00 775.00 -39.68 120Nestle PakXD 4431.18 4499.00 4390.00 4409.00 -22.18 33Siemens Pakistan 789.00 800.00 751.00 770.00 -19.00 1,810Mithchells Fruit 184.00 175.00 175.00 175.00 -9.00 679Service IndXD 184.11 184.11 175.00 178.78 -5.33 2,322

Volume Leaders

Jah.Sidd. Co. 20.69 21.72 19.66 21.71 1.02 56,777,428Azgard Nine 8.31 9.31 8.21 9.28 0.97 26,802,977D.G.K.Cement 38.06 38.47 36.16 37.76 -0.30 22,334,636JS Bank Ltd 6.64 6.70 6.02 6.53 -0.11 16,360,100National BankXDXB 45.53 47.80 44.80 47.05 1.52 12,656,728

Interbank RatesUS Dollar 90.5473Uk Pound 145.1835Japanese Yen 1.1042Euro 120.9983

Dollar EastBuy Sell

US Dollar 90.50 91.10Euro 120.16 121.48Great Britain Pound 144.11 145.73Japanese Yen 1.0839 1.0957Canadian Dollar 90.15 91.65Hong Kong Dollar 11.49 11.67UAE Dirham 24.56 24.83Saudi Riyal 24.06 24.30Australian Dollar 93.15 94.61

LAHORE: Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) andAirlink Communication recently held a motivational Sales & DistributionConference for their sales and distribution teams. Held at Airlink Lahoreoffice, the conference was led by PTCL Senior Executive PresidentCommercial, Naveed Saeed, and was attended by management and salesteams of PTCL and Airlink. Airlink Communication is managing a nationaldistribution program for PTCL’s wireless products including Vfone andEVO. The conference helped to align both teams towards meetingcorporate objectives and strengthening their relationships. PRESS RELEASE

PESHAWAR

STAFF REPORT

TraDE Development au-thority of Pakistan(TDaP) organized a sem-inar in collaboration with

khyber Pakhtunkhwa chamber ofcommerce and Industry (kPccI)on trade normalization betweenPakistan and India.

The seminar held at the cham-ber on Wednesday was aimed atgenerating awareness among busi-ness community and educatetraders about normalization oftrade between the two countries.

Prominent among those whoattended the seminar includedkPccI senior vice president ZiaulHaq Sarhadi, vice president abidSalam, former kPccI presidentGhazanfar Bilour, presidentWomen chamber of commerceand Industry Sajida Zulfiqar, vicepresident nasira Lughmani, DrManzoor ahmed, former Pakistan

ambassador to World Trade Or-ganization (WTO), Director Gen-eral (DG) TDaP Tariq Parvez andothers. Dr Manzoor briefed the au-dience on why Pakistan shouldhave trade with India, what are itsbenefits and why these trade tiesbe normalized and expanded. Hesaid Pakistan was mostly tradingwith the European Union (EU) andthe US. Dr Manzoor said Pakistantrade was growing but in a wrongmanner. Dr Manzoor said smallereconomies should do trade withbigger economies to grow andstrengthen their economies andgave the example of Turkey andMexico. Dr Manzoor suggestedPakistan should increase its ex-ports. Dr Manzoor said all WTOmembers are bound to give MFnstatus to their neighbors and ifthey don’t, they would be violatingWTO agreement.

Ziaul Haq Sarhadi said Pak-istan would have to better its rela-tions with its neighbors to promote

trade. Sarhadi said khyberPakhtunkhwa was an importantprovince and therefore Peshawardry port which was running tem-porarily needed to be modernizedto export goods. He said exportshad badly suffered due to poorcondition of railway. Sarhadi de-manded the government modern-ize the dry without which exportswere not possible. He said the dryport was temporally established in1986 and is still running temporar-ily. Sarhadi said efforts be made toset up a dry port trust at aza khelnear Peshawar. Sarhadi said therailways could earn rs 15 to 20 bil-lion by running goods trains.

regarding the afghan transittrade, he said the province wouldnot benefit from the new agree-ment as it had rendered a largenumber of people unemployed. Hesaid amended agreement wouldhave negative impact on our econ-omy. Sarhadi said the decision byPakistan to give India the Most Fa-

vorite nation (MFn) status was awelcome step. But, he added, thegovernment must take all stake-holders into confidence before im-plementing its decision and makea negative list of items. He said thegovernment would have to putpressure on India to remove non-tariff barriers.

He said TDaP was not playingan effective role due to which kPexporters were having problems.Sarhadi demanded the governmentinclude businessmen in TDaP for-eign delegations.

DG TDaP underlined the needfor exchange of delegations and ex-hibitions, saying TDaP was shortlyholding an exhibition in Delhi. TheDG said businessmen from Pak-istan and India should hold meet-ings without which the trade tieswould not normalize.

He said his department wouldfully cooperate with women entre-preneurs. He said TDaP agendawas to educate exporters.

KARACHI

STAFF REPORT

On Wednesday the bullskept dominatingkarachi stocks marketwith the benchmark,

kSE 100-share index skyrocket254.22 points. ahsan Mehanti, Di-rector at arif Habib InvestmentsLimited, said that the stocks closedbullish at kSE amid renewed insti-tutional & foreign interest lead bybluechip oil and banking stocksahead of quarter end earning an-nouncements due next week.

The day saw the index closingup by 1.86 percent at 13945.30

points against 13,691.08 points ofTuesday. The trading volumes atthe ready-counter were recordedhigher at 409.301 million sharesagainst 318.143 million shares ofthe previous day. The trading valuetoo surged to rs 9.219 billion com-pared to rs 6.745 billion of theprevious session. The intradayhigh and low, respectively, stood at13,955.42 and 13,691.08 points.

He added that the higherglobal commodities, rising cementprices, expectations for strongerquarterend results, improvementin Pak-US relations played a cata-lyst role in bullish sentiments atkSE as investor expected early an-

nouncements on implementationof revised cGT regime.

The market capitalization grewmodestly and increased to rs 3.575trillion from rs 3.511 trillion a dayearlier. Of the total 369 tradedscrips, 288 gained, 85 lost and 56finished as unchanged.The free-float kSE-30 index also gained216.53 points to close at 12,272.53points against the previous12,056.00 points. The kSE all-share index closed with a gained of176.51 points to 9,780.09 points asagainst 9,603.58 points.

Lafarge Pakistan was the day’svolume leader counting its tradedshares at 30.369 million with the

opening and closing rates standingat rs 4.82 and rs 5.11, followed byazgard nine, Jahangir Siddiquicompany, Hub Power company XDand D.G.k. cement with turnoverof 26.210 million, 25.243 million,23.349 million and 18.587 millionshares respectively. On the futuremarket, the turnover decreased byover 6 million shares to 16.666 mil-lion against 22.690 million sharesof Tuesday. The rafhan Maize XDand Bata Pakistan Limited, up rs127.00 and rs 28.68, led highestprice gainers while, Wyeth PakistanLimited XD and Ismail Industries,down rs 32.71 and rs 3.86 respec-tively, led the losers.

Another blazing bull surge as KSe100-share index skyrockets 254pts

TDAP’s seminar with KPCCI

KARACHI

ISMAIL DILAWAR

BYcO, one of the country’senergy giants, saw itsoperational loss ballooning by74.4 percent or rs 507 million

owing to the company’s reduced sells,Profit learnt Wednesday.according to the company’sconsolidated profit and loss account,during first quarter of the current fiscalyear, July-September FY2012, Bycofaced a loss after taxation of rs 1.118billion compared to rs 681.170 millionthe firm incurred in the correspondingperiod last year.The loss per share, basic and diluted,amounts to rs 1.14 against last year’s rs1.74.During the period under review, the netsales of the company have declined tors 5.348 billion as compared to rs7.899 billion during the same period inFY11. “The company continued facingsignificant working capital constraintswhich resulted in limited supplies and

disrupted business operations duringthe quarter ended September 30(2011)”, the company’s chief executiveofficer told the shareholders at karachi,Lahore and Islamabad stock exchangesand the Securities and Exchangecommission of Pakistan.as a result, he said, the companysuffered a loss after taxation of rs 1.188billion for the period as compared to aloss after taxation of rs 681 million inthe last corresponding period.Byco is country’s emerging energycompanies engaged in the businesses ofoil refining, petroleum marketing,chemicals manufacturing and petroleumlogistics. Headquartered in karachi, thefirm is catering the energy demand inand outside Pakistan.The companies that work under Byco’sumbrella include Byco Oil PakistanLimited, Oil refining & chemicalManufacturing, Byco PetroleumPakistan Limited, Oil refining &Petroleum Marketing, UniversalTerminal Limited and Infrastructureand Logistics.

the credittransfer prismSBP allows settlement of 3rd partyfund transfers through PRISm system

KARACHI

STAFF REPORT

THE central bank has decided to allowmultiple credit transfers using MT 102 forthe third party transfers to further enhance

the payment transfer facilities through PrISMSystem. To have immediate effect, the facilitywould be subject to certain conditions that are:The lower value limit for each credit transfer in MT102 shall be rs 100,000, maximum 10 paymentinstructions are allowed to be sent through one MT102 message. Further, the transaction time andcharges for each payment instruction within asingle MT 102 will be from Mondays to Fridaysbetween 9am and 4:30pm with charges applicableto be rs 25 per instruction. all inclusivetransaction charges recovered by the banks andDFIs from their customers for each paymentinstruction sent using MT 102 shall not exceed rs50. “However, MT 103 may continue to be used for3rd party time critical single credit transfersattracting charges as outlined in PSD circular letterno. 5 dated October 14, 2011,” said an SBP circularissued Wednesday. The bank advised all PrISMdirect participants to ensure compliance with thecustomer Transfer Guidelines, Payment Systemsand Electronic Fund Transfers act 2007, PrISMOperating rules, 2009 and all other applicableSBP rules and regulations including those relatedto kYc and aML/cFT.

Byco’s bafflingballoonover Rs1 billion operational loss disrupts Byco’s business operations

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