KARACHI: Pakistan Oilfields Limited (POL) has posted around four percent growth in profit after tax (pat) to Rs 3.865 billion in first half of current financial year over Rs 3.719 billion in the same period of previous year. Company announced Rs 8 per share for the half year ended on December 31, 2008, a notice of Karachi Stock Exchange stated on Friday. The earnings per share rose to Rs 16.34 in the period under review against Rs 15.72 in the previous year. The net sales of the company also increased to Rs 8.653 billion in the said period as compared to Rs 7.905 billion in the previous year. The exploration costs jumped substantially to Rs 1.748 billion against Rs 117 million in the last year. Attock Refinery Ltd: Attock Refinery Limited recorded Rs 689 million net loss during first half of current fiscal compared to profit after tax of Rs 1.632 billion in the previous year. This loss after tax translated into negative earnings per share of Rs 8.08 in the period under review against ...

KARACHI: Finance Advisor Shaukat Tarin has said that the stock exchange crisis has died down and it was now on its way to recovery. Addressing a gathering here, Finance Advisor, Shaukat Tarin said that the government was gearing up the process of privatization for boosting foreign investment. He said that further $4.5 billion would be required for the improvement of balance of payments. Shaukat Tarin said that Pakistan economy being adversely affected in the war against terror.

The Karachi Stock Exchange closed early on Friday, after the board was forced to cancel the day's second session due to a power supply problem. KSE director, Asad Iqbal said the outage meant members in the exchange were unable to use the Karachi automated trading system (KATS), while those operating from remote sites were able to access KATS. "It needs to be a level playing field for all, so the second session has been cancelled," Iqbal said. "The rule is that if more than 20 percent of KATS are out of operation, then trading is suspended." Iqbal further said. The benchmark 100 shares index KSE stood 1.29 percent higher, up 73.07 points at 5722.56 at the unscheduled close on Friday. The market was reeling earlier this week from fears of a brewing political crisis. Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, leader of the country's second largest party, called for people to protest after he and his brother were barred by the Supreme Court on Wednesday from contesting...

KARACHI: Bank Al-Habib has posted a profit after tax of Rs 2.425 billion for the year 2008 and declared a bonus share of 27.50 percent and a final cash dividend of Rs 1.25 per share. According to financial results of the bank dispatched to the Karachi Stock Exchange here Wednesday, the pre-tax profit surged to Rs 3.578 billion for the period ending December 31, 2008. The earning per share also improved to Rs 5.07 during the year under review.

KARACHI: After Supreme Court’s verdict of declarating Sharif brothers ineligible, Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) witnessed bearish trend on Wednesday as benchmark 100-Index shed 299 points to plunged down to below 5575 points.

KARACHI: GlaxoSmithKline Pakistan has declared a final cash dividend of Rs7 per share as its profit after tax rose to Rs1.955 billion during the year ending December 2008. According to financial results of the pharmaceutical company despatched to the Karachi Stock Exchange on Monday, its pre-tax profit soared to Rs3.001bn during the period under review. .

KARACHI: Askari Bank’s profit after tax has drastically fallen to Rs386.225 million in the year 2008 against last year’s Rs2.681 billion. The bank has declared 25 per cent bonus share. According to financial results of the bank dispatched to Karachi Stock Exchange here on Monday, pre-tax profit also dropped to Rs461.382 million for the period ending December 2008.