The SECP’s Enforcement Department— while enforcing compliance of corporate and allied laws— initiated 86 show-cause proceedings and concluded 54 proceedings against chief executives, directors and auditors of companies in February and March. While facilitating companies to strengthen their capital base, the department allowed three listed companies to issue shares by way of otherwise than right at a discount and at par.  In order to strengthen the existing regime of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reporting, the SECP has joined hands with the ICAP for the external assurances of the CSR reports.  CSR reports assist organizations in understanding and communicating their vision of combining a company’s profitability with social responsibility and environmental care. Both the SECP and the ICAP have reaffirmed their commitment to developing a framework for external assurance in accordance with prominent international assurance standards, and within a mutually agre...

With year-end right around the corner, participation remained dull at the bourse. The benchmark index rose by mere 3 points to close at 25370.03 level compared to 25366.69 points of the previous day. Equity dealer at Topline Securities Asad Siddiqui said positive momentum continued in the cement sector and specially in FCCL, out of 17 listed stocks in the sector 12 closed in the green zone while one remained unchanged.  On the other hand, profit-taking was seen in oil and gas sector while some pressure was seen in fertilizer stocks barring Engro, which closed with gains of 3pc. FCCL, PTC and PAEL made up for the top 3 volume leaders with trade of 16.7m, 10.2m and 9.7m shares, respectively. KSE-Allshare index shed by 30.02 points or 0.16 percent to end the day at 18690.70 points, KSE-30 share index off by 8.19 points or 0.04 percent to close the day at 18941.99 points while KMI-30 share index misplaced 69.59 points or 0.16 percent to end the day at 42739.21 points.   T...

The Karachi stock market on the last trading day of the week Friday made an intraday high of 25,000 points for the first time in the history of Pakistan and closed below the said level with a rise of 70 points. Analysts cited hopes for improved Indo-Pak bilateral relations and interest of international investors in setting up power plants in Pakistan as the main reasons for the positive trend. The Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) 100-share index gained 69.86 points or 0.28 percent to close at 24,870.55 points as compared to previous session’s 24,800.69 points. The KSE 30-share index rose 10.48 points to close at 18,624.99 points as against 18,614.514 points.   “After testing the psychological level of 25,000 points the index was seen scaling back to close at 24,870 points,” said Habib Metropolitan Financial Services’ Muhammad Sultan. “During the second session the index pared gains posted earlier in the day, largely driven by profit-taking by risk averse investor...

The election of directors of the companies is held in general meetings, on completion of the term of office of directors after every three years as laid down in Sections 178 and 180 of the 1984 Companies Ordinance. The SECP has received many queries from the companies that the date of election of directors coincides with the forthcoming Eid-ul-Adha holidays. The SECP in this regard clarifies that if the date of election of directors of a company overlaps with the holidays, the company can hold the election of its directors immediately after the official holidays. Besides the election of directors, if any other requirement of the Companies Ordinance, which is time-constrained and its deadline coincides with the holidays, the companies are advised to comply with the respective statutory requirement, immediately after the holidays. The SECP has taken this decision to facilitate companies and encourage participation of maximum shareholders in the general meeting convened fo...

The Bank of Punjab (BoP) has posted 146 percent yearly increase to Rs 1.00 billion profit after tax (PAT) in first half of 2013 as compared to Rs 405.5 million PAT in the same period of last year. The company’s earnings per share (EPS) increased to Rs 1.90 in first half of 2013 as compared to EPS of 77 paisas in the corresponding period of 2012, according to the company’s notice sent to the Karachi Stock Exchange on Friday. The company announced its financial results for half year and second quarter period that ended on June 30, 2013, where the company’s board of directors has not recommended final cash dividend and bonus shares to its shareholders for the half-year period that ended on June 30, 2013. However, on quarterly basis the BoP witnessed a massive increase in profitability by 155 percent to Rs 672.9 million PAT with EPS of Rs 1.90 in second quarter (April to June) of 2013 as compared to Rs 268.1 million PAT with EPS of 51 paisas in the corresponding period of last years....

Karachi Stocks closed record high led by second and third tier stocks on strong valuations. Sentiments remained bullish ahead of quarter-end earning announcements due next week. The Karachi stock market benchmark KSE-100 share index added 22.59 points or 0.12 percent to end the day at 18,636.03 points compared to 18,613.44 points of the previous day.  Stock analyst Ahsan Mehanti said consolidation in blue chips stocks continued amid concerns for fall in global commodities. Strong data on urea, DAP and cement sales for Mar ‘13, speculations ahead of upcoming SBP policy announcement and expectations of higher LDI revenues for telecom sector played a catalyst role in higher close at KSE amid concerns for rising circular debt issues in energy sector outcome for CCP levy on fertilizer companies on collusion and increasing urea prices. KSE-Allshare index up by 10.56 points or 0.08 percent to end the day at 13,209.70 points, KSE-30 share index increased by 25.38 points or 0.17 ...

The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan has issued a notification under Section 15D of the 1969 Securities and Exchange Ordinance read with section 40B of the 1997 Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan Act to specify the manner and form for the disclosure of inside information by the listed companies and by the persons discharging managerial responsibilities in listed companies. The notification will result in clearly defining the roles and responsibilities of the company as well as the person possessing the information. It also describes the obligation of stock exchanges with respect to dissemination of information so that no person takes undue advantage of the inside information. Now the Commission will be in a better position to prosecute the persons involved in insider trading as the presence of newly introduced statutory obligation will restrain the persons alleged of insider trading from citing legal justifications for their illegal acts in the presence...

The Public Sector Companies (Corporate Governance) Rules have been approved by the SECP Policy Board. The rules are aimed at improving the governance framework of public sector companies (PSCs) in order to bring about greater transparency and plugging the huge losses of public sector enterprises, which are in the range of Rs400 billion per year. Held on Thursday at the SECP head office, the board meeting was chaired by Mr. Wajid Rana, the federal finance secretary. The board consists of the SECP chairman, federal secretaries for finance, law and commerce, and deputy governor, State Bank.   The rules have been based on the Code of Corporate Governance issued by the SECP as well as on the recommendations contained in the Guidelines on Corporate Governance of State-Owned Enterprises issued by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The salient features of the rules are o          The appointment of the...

In order to chalk out a comprehensive strategy to combat business fraud, a meeting of a special committee comprising of representatives of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan, Financial Monitoring Unit, State Bank of Pakistan, National Accountability Bureau, Federal Investigation Agency, and the police is being held on Tuesday, January 8,2013, at the SECP head office.   The committee will focus on preventing illegal business activities, including Ponzi and pyramid schemes, carried out by companies and unregistered entities. The committee has been formed to achieve synergy to prevent fraudulent business activities that cheat the public. It will share information to identify and prevent business scams. The participants will consider developing a national anti-fraud strategy and institutionalizing the coordination mechanism by setting up an all-encompassing anti-fraud body in the country. The committee will identify various areas of common interest, including ...

In November the SECP’s Corporatization and Compliance Department took 82 enforcement actions against various corporate entities and penalties amounting to thousands of rupees were imposed on five of them.  The department issued 45 show cause notices and conducted 31 hearings for various violations of the provisions of the 1984 Companies Ordinance, ranging from late filing of annual accounts, non-filing of accounts to non-holding of AGMs and faulty audit of cost accounts. Six orders were issued against five companies: Pakistan Electrical & Electronics Merchant Association (Sections 184, 242 read with 476),  Fahim Nanji & De Souza (Sections 92, 93, 172  read with 476), Chemi Multfabrics Limited (Sections 142, 184 read with 476), United Brands Limited (Section 184 read with 476) and Grand Leisure Corporation Limited (Section 184 read with Section 476).  In addition, the department received seven complaints during the month and four of them were ...

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi     (Pakistan News & Features Services) The General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA), King Abdul Aziz International Airport, Saudi Arabia, has declared the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) as the best airline operator amongst the 74 international Airlines operating from Hajj terminal, flying more than 1.7 million Hajjis in 2012.  The PIA spokesman, Syed Sultan Hasan presented the copies of the certification of 25 Zilhajj 1433H (November 10, 2012) mentioning PIA as the Best Hajj Airline Operator to a Pakistan media team visiting Saudi Arabia at Madinah.  The GACA, in the certificate issued to PIA, has noted that they closely monitored the activities of all the airlines’ operating from Hajj terminal Jeddah and considered that PIA again proved itself the best operator on the basis of regularity as well as services provided.  The GACA further said that PIA demonstrated exceptional value by overcoming the delay f...

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi (Pakistan News & Features Services) The Pakistan Reinsurance Company Limited (PRCL), rated as AA Company, has posted a net profit of Rs.925 million for the three Quarters ending September 30, 2012. The break-up of Profit & Loss Account of PRCL in Underwriting Profit in nine months having ended on September 30, 2012, is Rs.578 million, as compared to Rs.283 million during the corresponding period last year. The investment income stood at Rs.785 million as compared to Rs.747 million while the rental and other income went up from Rs.36 million to Rs.45 million. The general and administration expenses were brought down from Rs.30 million to Rs.29 million with the exchange gain being Rs.39 million compared to Rs.27 million last year. The net profit before tax and value of available for Sale Investment-write-off was Rs.1408 million as Rs.1073 million last year, less Provision for Taxation Rs.337 million to Rs.217 million...

By Abdul  Qadir Qureshi The JCR-VIS Credit Rating Co. Ltd. (JCR-VIS), approved by the Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP),   has reaffirmed the Insurer Financial Strength (IFS) rating of Pakistan Reinsurance Company Limited (PRCL) at "AA" (Double A) for the year 2012. The outlook on the rating is stable. The JCR-VIS rating agency, a joint venture between Japan Credit Rating Agency, Ltd. (JCR) - Japan's premier rating agency, Vital Information Services (Pvt.) Limited (VIS) is acclaimed as Pakistan’s only independent financial research organization. The rating derives strength from the significant holding of Government of Pakistan in the company. Moreover, given that all insurance companies of Pakistan are mandated to offer 35% of their surplus business to PRCL in the form of cession, the company is expected to maintain a sizeable market share in premium ceded by the insurance industry. The JCR-VIS h...

Financial Results: Pakistan Refinery Limited Thirds quarter ended March 31, 2012 Loss per Share is PKR (2.56) Financial year ended Jun 30, 2012 Profit before Taxation is PKR. 456 Million Loss after Taxation is PKR. (89) Million Nine Months ended March 2012

The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has formulated the draft Public Sector Companies (Corporate Governance) Regulations, 2012 in order to improve the governance framework of Public Sector Companies (PSCs). These draft regulations have principally been based upon the Code of Corporate Governance, which has been customized in the context of PSCs in the light of the OECD’s Guidelines on Corporate Governance of SOEs. PSCs are public sector enterprises, operating in corporate form, which are directly or indirectly owned and controlled by the government, whether federal, provincial or local.. The draft regulations have been placed on the SECP website ( www.secp.gov.pk ) for soliciting the opinion, comments and suggestions from stakeholders and the public. These regulations have been designed in view of the distinct governance challenges faced by the PSCs in Pakistan. T he inefficiency of such companies is choking the economy and draining fiscal r...

We preview Kapco's 2QFY12 results (scheduled to be announced on February 15, 2012) and expect the company to report net profit of PKR1,380mn (EPS PKR1.57, down 24% YoY), gross profit of PKR2,663mn (up 4% YoY) and top line of PKR25,596mn (up 85% YoY). We also expect the company to announce cash dividend of PKR3/share. Target Price and Price catalyst ·          June-12 price target: PKR50.5/share on account of DDM based methodology. ·          Catalyst: Rupee devaluation and resolution of circular debt. (Source: Foundation Securities)

TODAY`S BOARD MEETING`S OF COMPANY SCHEDULED ON T I M E P L A C E TO CONSIDER 10. Pakistan Refinery Limited 15.02.2012 Wednesday 9:30 a.m. Karachi Half Yearly Accounts for the periodended December 31, 2011 11. Jubilee Life Insurance Company Limited 15.02.2012 Wednesday 10:00 a.m. Karachi Annual Accounts for the year endedDecember 31, 2011 12. JS Growth Fund 15.02.2012 Wednesday 10:30 a.m. Karachi Half Yearly Accounts for the periodended December 31, 2011 13. JS Investments Limited 15.02.2012 Wednesday 10:30 a.m. Karachi Half Yearly Accounts for the periodended December 31, 2011 14. Dawood Hercules Corporation Limited 15.02.2012 Wednesday 10:30 a.m. Karachi Annual Accounts for the year endedDecember 31, 2011...