The SECP Chairman, Mr. Muhammad Ali, met the outgoing and newly constituted Board of Directors of the Karachi Stock Exchange on Thursday. In his address to the Board members he appreciated the valuable services rendered by the outgoing Board. He expressed the belief that the new Board would deliver in the best interest of the capital market adopting a coherent approach and discouraging any compartmentalization of the Board while benefiting from the extensive knowledge and expertise of individual members. He emphasized that the investors’ interest should be supreme, over and above members’ interest and the management and Board are jointly responsible for the protection of investors.  The SECP Chairman gave an overview of the financial landscape of the country and the capital market. He mentioned that in Pakistan the banking sector continues to dominate overall financial industry and enjoying confidence of the general public. He viewed that the existing fiscal structure wor...

ByAbdul Qadir Qureshi The Board of Directors of Engro Foods Limited has announced a profit after tax of Rs. 891 million for the year ended, December 31, 2011 as compared to Rs 176 million in 2010.   Engro Foods’ revenue for 2011 recorded an increase of 43% and stood at Rs. 30 billion as compared to Rs. 21 billion in the 2010. The Company also announced an EPS of Rs. 1.22 (basic & diluted) for the year 2011 as compared to EPS of Rs 0.31 in the year 2010.  Engro Foods continued to consolidate its growth through the year and during the first half of the year, in May 2011, the foods business raised Rs. 1.2 billion by issuing 48 million shares to the institutional investors – mainly the US & UK mutual funds – at a share price of Rs. 25 per share. The Company’s vision to enhance its footprint and pursue a focused growth strategy led to the first-ever public offering of 27 million shares of the business to the general public at a price of Rs. 25 per share, inclusi...

The Federal Minster for Finance upon invitation of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) had a visit to the Karachi Stock Exchange, today. The Minster highlighted various financial and economic reforms undertaken by the Government of Pakistan over the last few years. While appreciating the SECP’s initiative for improving liquidity in the market, enhancing investor education and awareness and the brokers’ capacity to trade, he announced the approval of SECP’s proposal on revamping of Capital Gains Tax (CGT) submitted to the FBR last week. The SECP had been in dialogue with the Ministry of Finance and the FBR on   the rationalization of CGT. The following solutions have been agreed upon for a more balanced and investment friendly CGT approach: -          In view of the official but undocumented gains accrued prior to the imposition of CGT an investment window will be provided till June 30, 2014 whereby investo...

The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan has re-nominated/re-appointed Mr Muneer Kamal, Shazad G. Dada, Asif Qadir and Abdul Qadir Memon on the Board of the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) for the 2012 term. They had also served on the KSE Board last year as independent directors and their appointment can be seen as a fair balance of the requisite qualifications and skills on the board. Mr Muneer Kamal, presently vice-chairman of the KASB Bank Limited, has over 28 years of extensive experience of the banking and financial sector during which he has served locally and internationally on senior positions at various renowned banks. Mr Shazad Dada, CEO, Barclays Bank PLC, Pakistan, is a seasoned banker and a prominent capital market professional. He has over 20 years of major national and international financial markets’ experience. Mr Asif Qadir, president and CEO, Engro Polymer and Chemicals Limited, has over 30 years of management and marketing experie...

finan c ial valu a tions of P SO i s fut i le… Pakistan’s biggest petroleum handle r , Pakistan State Oil ( P S O ) is on the verge of financial collapse since its o u t standi n g dues from various ‘ e ner g y sector’ e ntities has reach e d to the extent of Rs 1 80 b n (whi c h is highest in 4‐y e ars). It seems t hat no bailing out is for t h c o ming from m i nistry of finan c e (M o F). A c tual cash flows o f t he entity have gone n e gative due t o incidence of more short term loans t o keep the dai l y operations afloat. It is imperative that the calculation o f DCF value o f such an entity may be a futile exercise and thus ta n t a mount to mislead investors. Liabiliti e s swe l ling… Wh e n PS O is not receiving du e p a yments, it is hard for the i r treasury to a r range paym e nts for r efineries. Ri g ht now PS O has t o p a y R s 1 7 2 b n of man y companies th a t also include international pri n cip...

Senior SECP officials, headed by the SECP Chairman, and Chairman, Karachi Stock Exchange met with the Board of Directors, Management and Members of the Karachi Stock Exchange on Wednesday. The meeting discussed various important market related matters including the proposed new broker registration regime. The SECP briefed the participants on the various significant steps taken by it to ensure sustainability and providing confidence to the market participants and proposals that were under discussions. It was emphasized that all reform measures that have been introduced in the past and currently being considered were in close coordination and consultation with the relevant stakeholders and are designed to improve trading volumes and enhancing retail participation in the stock market. The participants were briefed on the SECP’s strategic objectives for the coming years. The key objectives highlighted include: (i)Structural and regulatory reforms for the market;...

The SECP has developed and approved draft Thermal Energy (Cost Accounting Records) Order, 2011, for the company engaged in production, processing and generation of thermal energy/power. The companies engaged in generation of thermal energy are required to maintain such cost accounting records, including all particulars relating to utilization of material, labour or other inputs of items of cost as would be necessary.. The aforesaid draft will be issued in exercise of powers conferred by clause (e) of sub-section (1) of section 230 read with section 246 of the Companies Ordinance, 1984, and section 40 B of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan Act, 1997. Cost audit can only be an effective regulatory tool when the cost records are properly prepared and cost audit reports are made on a uniform format for a particular sector. In order to bring uniformity to the cost records and cost audit reports, the SECP requested the ICMAP to develop guidelines  for  ...