By Saad Hasan KARACHI: NIB Bank on Monday announced a loss of Rs7.5 billion for 2008 after making heavy provisioning for bad loans in its books in a bid to raise prospects for this year, President and CEO Khwaja Iqbal Hassan said. Total credit provisioning of Rs9.2bn and goodwill impairment loss of Rs1 billion on account of acquisition of PICIC reflect the bank’s very conservative calculations, he added. “This means we have taken the complete hit and from now on we will be posting profits,” he said, adding that Jan-March quarter of 2009 is already showing signs of good result. “We also expect recovery of Rs6bn from bad loans in next couple of years.” The loss also includes investments inherited from PICIC. This result is the first after NIB completed acquisition of PICIC’s insurance and asset management companies and PICIC Commercial Bank in 2007. Talking to a group of journalists here, Hassan said now the merged entities have been aligned together to focus on NIB’s strategy of segment...

KARACHI: The Karachi stock market witnessed a bearish trading week due to political unrest in the country as the Sri Lankan cricket team was attacked in Lahore followed by elevating concerns from the IMF regarding Pakistan’s ability to achieve set targets, analysts said on Saturday. Analysts said unabated cycle of selling pressure at the market continued taking its toll during the outgoing week as investors remained concerned over political instability in the country along with hectic political activities expected in March in the wake of the scheduled long march on the 16th. The Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) 100-share index shed 20.64 points or 0.36 percent to close at 5,748.10 points as compared to 5,727.46 points of the previous week. The average turnover in the ready market was recorded at 104 million shares, manifesting a decline of 16 percent as compared with previous week’s 123 million shares. Analysts said the KSE 100-share index exhibited high volatility in intraday trading duri...

KARACHI: Pak Suzuki Motors Company has posted a profit after tax of Rs 624 million for the year 2008 and declared a final cash dividend of Re 1 per share. According to the financial results dispatched to Karachi Stock Exchange here Wednesday, pre-tax profits of the company fell to Rs 992 million during the year ending December 31, 2008 as compared to Rs 4.281 billion in 2007. The earning per share in 2008 also declined to Rs 7.59 as compared with Rs 33.71 in the last year.

KARACHI: Karachi Stock Exchange has restored trading in the share of Tri-Star Power Ltd following the orders of Sindh High Court with immediate effect. Meanwhile, Security and Exchange Commission of Pakistan has also asked KSE to proceed with the matter in accordance with order of SHC. The CDC has also removed the suspension of CDS eligibility of the ordinary share of the company.

KARACHI: Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) along with the other two stock exchanges of the country rocked by the Sri Lankan team attack this morning in Lahore went nose-dive, as the investors in great panic sidelined from business and seen glued with the TV channels, which continued pouring horrifying details of the gory incident for hours. Following the terror incident in Lahore today, KSE opened down by 60 points and on one occasion KSE-100 index was seen eroded by 150 points plummeting the index to 5500 points. Lahore Stock Exchange (LSE) being the epicenter of the terror attack felt the similar shock, which saw the index in initial trading shed by over 30 points to peg at 1535 points, while in Islamabad bourse was no exception.

KARACHI: Arif Habib Investments (AHI) has declared the dividend for two of its open-end fixed income funds for the month of February 2009. Pakistan Income Enhancement Fund (PIEF) has declared a dividend of Rs 1.48 per unit to all unit holders whose name appeared in the register of unit holders on February 25, 2009. The current payout translates to a dividend distribution of 2.96 percent on face value. The year-to-date annualised return of PIEF is 17.63 percent as compared to the industry average of 2.93 percent. The Fund has declared an annualised distribution of 16.40 percent of the par value since inception.

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 ...