By SHABBIR
H. KAZMI
Updated Mar 31, 2001
The announcement that the IMF has approved
disbursement of US$ 133 million tranche came on Friday. Equities
market continued a roller-coaster ride during this week. During next
week market will be closed for two days. Though there were a number of
good news during the week, market remained under the fear of T+3
system expected to be implemented from April 25. However, the
announcement by the KSE that only two companies will be under this
regime should be a sigh of relief for weak position holders.
GUL AHMED TEXTILE MILLS
The Board of Directors of the Company have
recommended 70 per cent dividend for the year ending September 30,
2000. While profit after tax for the year 2000 amounts to Rs 558
million the amount payable to shareholders comes to Rs. 238.5 million.
A sum of Rs 400 million has been transferred to general reserve. Like
many other textile mills, financial and other charges of the Company
seems to be on higher side — Rs 238.6 million for the year under
review. Therefore, it would be appropriate for the shareholders to ask
the management the reasons for retaining the profit. Is the amount
being retained for any expansion or simply for lending to associate
companies? Further analysis indicate that the Company was able to
contain its cost of goods sold which improved its gross profit from Rs
642.9 million for the year 1999 to Rs 1,133.5 million for the year
under review — a growth of over 76 per cent. This may be attributed
to lower cost of inputs particularly cotton and PSF.
NAKSHBANDI INDUSTRIES
The core business of the Company is manufacturing
and export of towels. As a result of improvement in sales and better
cost controls operating profit of the Company for the year ending
September 30, 2000 came to Rs 96.7 million as compared to that of Rs
79 million for the previous year. However, Rs 60.6 million was eaten
up by financial and other charges and profit before tax was reduced to
Rs 35.7 million. Higher profit after tax enabled the company to
improve its dividend payout from 7 per cent for the year 1999 to 12.5
per cent for the year under review. While the Company was able to
improve its sales, better cost controls improved profit margin of the
Company though marginally — from 14.6 per cent for the previous year
to 16 per cent for the year 2000.
DEWAN MUSHTAQ TEXTILE MILLS
The Board of Directors have proposed 72.5 per cent
dividend for the year ending September 30, 2000 as against a payout of
28 per cent for the previous year. This improvement was due to more
than two fold increase in sales resulting in increased gross profit
— from Rs 34.7 million for the previous year to Rs 91.3 million for
the year under review. While sales were Rs 267.7 million for the
previous year, the quantum was above Rs 761 million for the year 2000.
At the same time, the Company was able to contain its operating,
administrative and general expenses. However, other charges nearly
doubled during this period.
REGENT TEXTILE INDUSTRIES
The Company seems to belong to the group of
perennially loss making entities. Accumulated losses as at September
30, 2000 exceeded Rs 141 million. Its entire operations appears to be
dependent on borrowed money. It is evident from a fact that out of
gross profit of Rs 36 million for the year 2000, an amount of Rs 20
million was eaten up by financial charges whereas operating expenses
were around Rs 3 million. The Board approved 5 per cent dividend
amounting to Rs 2.4 million from current year's profit after tax of Rs.
11.4 million.
BANK OF PUNJAB
As commercial banks are now required to raise their
paid-up capital, their profit after tax, bonus issues and dividend
announcements should be keenly watched by investors. Enhancing paid-up
capital should not a problem for Bank of Punjab as its shareholders
exceeded Rs 2,179 million at the end of year 2000. Profit before tax
for the year ending December 31, 2000 was Rs 319.6 but due to higher
tax rate applicable on banks, profit after tax reduced to Rs 157
million. Out of a total profit of Rs 356.629 million available for
appropriations, the Board of Directors decided to issue bonus shares
amounting to Rs 127.782 million, transferred Rs 157 million to general
reserve and Rs 71.4 million to statutory reserve. An interesting
feature observed was that while advances remained more or less at the
level of previous year, investments increased from Rs 4,990.6 million
to Rs 7,865.8 million during this period. Does it indicate any shift
in lending policies of the Bank?
MITCHELL'S FRUIT FARMS
Results of financial year ending September 30, 2000
were more or less similar to those of previous year. However, dividend
announced was 40 per cent as against a payout of 45 per cent for the
year 1999. It seems that the Company retaining earnings for some
future use. However, increasing financial charges should be cause of
concern for the management which jumped from Rs 4 million to Rs 5.4
million during this period.
|
MOVEMENT
AT A GLANCE |
|
SCRIP |
HIGH
(Rs.)
|
LOW
(Rs.)
|
CLOSING
PRICE |
TURNOVER
(SHARE MN) |
|
Hubco |
21.45 |
20.15 |
20.35 |
206,963,500 |
|
PTCL |
18.55 |
17.75 |
17.95 |
102,142,500 |
|
Bank of Punjab |
10.00 |
8.95 |
9.50 |
2,270,000 |
|
Askari Comm Bank |
11.70 |
11.30 |
11.30 |
310,500 |
|
Mitchell |
36.00 |
34.50 |
36.00 |
1,500 |
|
Gul Ahmed Textile |
28.00 |
28.00 |
28.00 |
— |
|
Nakshbandi Textile |
10.75 |
10.75 |
10.75 |
— |
|
Attock Refinery |
41.50 |
41.50 |
41.50 |
— |
|
Regent Textile |
2.30 |
2.30 |
2.30 |
— |
|
Dewan Textile |
35.00 |
35.00 |
35.00 |
— |
| Source:
Invest Capital & Securities |
|
