The week witnessed sustained movement in KSE-100 index due to buying by institutional and retail investors. However, buying was confined to a few but usual picks. Most prominent being PTCL, HUBCO and Fauji Fertilizer. Though, Fauji came under pressure due to rumours that any more interim dividend may not be declared.

However, one sector which has not been able to attract the attention of investors is textile. According to some analysts, "Though over 250 companies are listed, only about two dozen which have sufficient market float are being ignored. It must be kept in mind that dividend payout for the year ending September 30, 2001 would be lower than last year. However, profitability for the year 2002 is expected to higher due to stable cotton prices.

The Board of Directors have approved 100 per cent final dividend for the year ending September 30, 2001. It had already paid 45 per cent interim dividend, making total payout of 145 per cent. The company had paid 135 per cent dividend for the year 2000. The higher profit was mainly due to increase in sales yielding Rs 781 million gross profit for the year 2001 as compared to that of Rs 671 million for the previous year. Profit before tax for the year under review came to Rs 586 million as compared to Rs 493 million for the year 2000. Despite increase in sales, all other expenses for the year 2001 were more or less at the level of previous year.

The company has announced financial results for year ending June 30, 2001, posting Rs 1.974 billion profit after tax. The Board of Directors have also approved 15 per cent dividend. The company did not pay any dividend for the year 2000. Gas development surcharge paid to the GoP amounted to Rs 3.8 billion. Gross sales increased from Rs 22.931 billion for the year 2000 to Rs 29.237 billion. Financial charges also came down. Therefore, earnings per share improved from Rs 1.18 to Rs 1.93.

The company has announced financial results for year ending June 30, 2001, posting Rs 1.34 billion profit after tax. The Board of Directors have also approved 17 per cent dividend after a lapse of 10 years. The company has been declaring bonus shares for the last five years. The scrip is currently trading at Rs 11.75 that translates in a dividend yield of 14.5 per cent. Gross sales at Rs 36.5 billion depicts a 37 per cent increase over the last year's level of Rs 26.6 billion. Gas development surcharge also increased by 140 per cent to Rs 2.44 billion. While gross margins have taken a plunge to 27 per cent in year 2001 from the 38 per cent level in year 2000, financial charges declined by 47 per cent during the year under review.

The company was able to improve its dividend payout to 20 per cent for the year ending June 30, 2001. Last year company had paid 10 per cent dividend. The company has posted Rs 10.24 million profit after tax for the year 2001 as compared to that of Rs 2.3 million for the previous year. After allocating about Rs 5.5 million for payment of dividend, company was able to transfer Rs 4.7 million to general reserve. This improvement in profit was driven by higher sales. However, the benefit was eroded by increase in expenditure, highest being in other charges.

The Board of Directors has decided not to pay any dividend for the year ending June 30, 2001. For the previous year shareholders had received 10 per cent dividend and 5 per cent bonus shares. The Investment registered an increase in operating income for the year 2000 but the advantage was eroded due to increase in cost of funds and provisions. Income increased from Rs 210 million to Rs 244 million but cost of funds hiked from Rs 144 million to Rs 186 million over the previous year. In year 2000 the Bank made provisions of Rs 4.7 million but during the year under review provisions of over Rs 4.2 were written back to achieve Rs 22 million profit before tax.

The company has posted Rs 12.6 million gross profit for the year ending June 30, 2001 as against a gross loss of Rs 1.37 million for the previous year. However, the company posted Rs 5.6 million loss after tax for the year 2000. This was mainly because gross profit was not adequate to take care for all other expenses. The Company would have posted better results had other income was at the level of previous year. Other income came down from Rs 15 million for the year 2000 to Rs 357,411 for the year under review. The Board of Directors of the company has been reconstituted recently and it is expected that under the new management, profitability of the company will improve. However, any dividend payout to shareholders may not be possible for next couple of years due to accumulated losses of over Rs 19 million.