President Asif Ali Zardari has called upon the private sector of the country to take full advantage of the level playing field provided to it by the present Government through financial and structural reforms. During awards distribution ceremony among the top ranking companies and business entities for the year 2008 & 2009 held at Aiwan-e-Sadr on Monday, the President said that the success of the winning corporations highlights the opportunities Pakistan offers to business and investment. We have a very conducive investment climate, he said. According to prepared text of speech, the President said that Pakistan was lagging behind in the manufacturing sector and its share in the global exports was not what it should be. The private sector needs to play a greater role in enhancing manufacturing capacity to serve regional and global markets, he emphasized. The President said that the stock exchanges also need to extend their outreach throughout the country. This, he said, will increas...

Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) was selected as the largest corporate giver in the category of total volume of donations for 2008 as well as 2009 at the Pakistan Corporate Philanthropy (PCP) Awards held in Karachi on December 6. The company bagged the award for the fifth and sixth consecutive year in the same category. MD and CEO Khalid Rahman received the awards from Federal Minister for Finance, Revenue, Economic Affairs and Statistics Dr. Abdul Hafeez Sheikh. The event, hosted by PCP, was attended by leading businessmen, representatives of multinational companies, government and civil society representatives, donors and media. In his inaugural address, Chairman PCP Dr. Shamsh Kassim Lakha highlighted the organization’s growing role in “professionalizing the process of grant making” and redefining philanthropy not as charity but social asset creation used towards facilitating sustainable development.

KARACHI: Affirming its stand as an environmentally responsible Exploration and Production (E&P) organization, Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) won the 6th Annual Environment Excellence Award (AEEA) 2009. This is the third time that PPL has bagged this award, the first being in 2006 followed by 2008. PPL’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Khalid Rahman received the award from the Chief Guest and Federal Minister for Environment Hameedullah Jan Afridi at a well-attended ceremony held on July 9 at Karachi Sheraton Hotel and Towers that drew distinguished guests, including government officials, corporate, environmentalists, experts, civil society and media. Guest of Honour and Provincial Minister for Environment Askari Taqvi pointed out recent initiatives taken by the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency for effective implementation of the National Environmental Quality Standards. Chief Guest Hameeduallah Jan Afridi encouraged the private sector to support government eff...

KARACHI: Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) bagged the Best Corporate Report Award (BCRA) for its Annual Report 2008. The company stood first among five short listed organizations in the fuel and energy sector, scaling up three positions over last year when its report was ranked fourth in the sector. This is the third BCRA that the company has won, the first being in 2005 followed by one in 2007. The results were announced on June 15 at a ceremony organized jointly by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP) and Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Pakistan (ICMAP) that drew a large number of representatives from the accountancy profession, corporate sector and the media. Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Khalid Rahman received the award from Governor State Bank of Pakistan Syed Salim Raza, who was the chief guest on the occasion. The award affirms PPL’s efforts to adhere to best corporate governance practices and maintain sound and transparent acc...

KARACHI, Jan 26 (Reuters) - State-run Pakistan Petroleum Ltd. ( PPL.KA ) (PPL) reported a 48.2 percent jump in net profit for the first half to Dec. 31, fuelled by higher gas and crude oil prices and increased sales but the profit came below market estimates. PPL, which operates Pakistan's largest gas field, posted a net profit of 13.77 billion rupees ($174.3 million) against 9.29 billion rupees a year ago, it said in a statement to the Karachi Stock Exchange on Monday. The stock fell 5 percent. "The increase in its earnings was due to higher oil and gas well-head prices and higher other income earned," said Farhan Mahmood, an analyst at JS Global Capital Ltd. Net sales in the first half jumped 40 percent to 29.6 billion rupees from 21.16 billion rupees a year ago. The company's other income including from investments rose to 2.27 billion rupees from 1.19 billion rupees. The net profit was below analysts' forecasts which ranged from 13.98 billion rupees to 14.895 ...