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 (SECP) conducted an awareness session on  the 2012 Code of Corporate Governance at the Islamabad Stock Exchange (ISE). It was held in collaboration with the ISE and was attended by CEOs, CFOs, company secretaries and internal auditors of companies listed at the ISE. The session opened with the brief remarks by Mian Ayaz Afzal, Managing Director, ISE, followed by a presentation by the SECP highlighting the revised code and a presentation by the ISE on compliance and enforcement of the code and a question-and-answer session. Mr. Imtiaz Haider, Commissioner, Securities Market Division, SECP, highlighted the salient features of the revised code and the need for improving corporate governance standards to promote a vibrant capital market. He also touched on various initiatives to promote governance that the SECP has or is currently working on such as introducing the Code of Corporate Governance for SOEs, e-dividend, e-vot...

Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) on Friday approved the Corporate Social Responsibility Voluntary Guidelines, 2013 aimed at encouraging body corporate to align their business strategies with their social responsibilities. The Corporate Social Responsibility Voluntary Guidelines is a preliminary step towards introducing broad parameters for accountability and reporting of CSR activities. These Guidelines are being published as guidance document for all companies. Under the Guidelines, Board of Directors of registered entities are encouraged to take ownership for formulation, adoption and implementation of CSR policy of a company. The Guidelines recommend that CSR policy be fully endorsed by Board of Directors of Company and that such policy is embedded in the vision and strategy of the company. CSR governance benchmark table has been added at the end of Guidelines that shall facilitate companies to assess their performance and for peer review. Prese...

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 board of directors (BoD) of MCB Bank Ltd has declared final cash dividend of Rs 3 and 10 percent bonus shares, in addition to interim cash dividends of Rs 10 already paid for the year ended December 31, 2012, a statement of the bank said on Thursday. Earnings per share (EPS) for the year came to Rs 22.77 as compared to Rs 21.12 for December 31, 2011. Return on assets came to 2.95 percent, return on equity was recorded at 25.07 percent and book value per share improved to Rs 95.84. The BoD met under the chairmanship of Mian Mohammad Mansha to review the performance of the bank and approve the financial statements. For the year 2012, the bank reported profit before tax of Rs 32.054 billion and profit after tax of Rs 20.941 billion with an increase of 2.0 percent and 8.0 percent, respectively. Total assets of MCB Bank Limited grew by 17 percent to Rs 765.899 billion. The analysis of the asset mix highlights 27 percent increase in investments to Rs 402.069 billion ...