Shell Pakistan expands retail footprint

LAHORE (PR): Building upon its historic legacy of providing quality fuels to its customers, Shell Pakistan Limited shows greater commitment to become more accessible to its customers by expanding its retail footprint in Pakistan. The latest addition to its network is the inauguration of a new site Ameer Super Filling Station in Johar Town taking the total number of Shell sites to 780 across Pakistan.
To better meet increasing fuel demands, this new Shell retail site is designed with greater on-site fuel storage capacity. The site can store up to 3 times more fuel than average sites in Pakistan.
Speaking at the inauguration of the new site, Mazhar-ud-Deen, General Manager Retail, Shell Pakistan Limited said, “Shell enjoys a deep-rooted history of over 100 years in this region. Over the years, we have won the trust of Pakistani customers and are willing to serve their growing demand not only for fuels but also other associated services that customers need. By being closer to our customers when and where they want us, we intend to keep winning their continued trust.”
The newly launched site is located on Khayaban-e-Firdosi, one of the busiest roads in Johar Town used for daily commute from Raiwand to Lahore. The site will cater to the everyday fuel needs of the nearby area residents along with additional Customer Value Propositions also planned for the site.
Shell Pakistan’s efforts in making its supply chain more agile and expanding its retail network will help meet the growing demand of fuel and support the smooth functioning of the country’s economy.

JS Group to invest Rs 1.66b in BankIslami Pakistan
KARACHI (PR): The shareholders of Jahangir Siddiqui & Co. Ltd., the flagship company of JS Group, in their Extraordinary General Meeting held on February 02, 2015 have unanimously approved to invest up to Rs 1.669 billion in BankIslami Pakistan Limited.
On December 30, 2014, the Board of Directors of BankIslami Pakistan Limited have approved to issue ordinary shares of Rs. 10 each by way of rights to its members to raise the paid up capital of Bank by Rs  4.320 billion. Jahangir Siddiqui & Co. Ltd. being one of the sponsors of the Bank with an existing shareholding of 21.26pc will invest up to Rs. 1.669 billion in the aforesaid right issue of the Bank.
Jahangir Siddiqui & Co. Ltd. is primarily an investment company in financial services and also makes long term investments in growing companies in Pakistan.
As of September 30, 2014, the shareholders equity stood at Rs. 18.809 billion with an investment portfolio size of Rs 19.661 billion.
 The Company also enjoys long term credit rating of AA (Double A) and short term credit rating of A1+ (A one Plus) assigned to it by Pakistan Credit Rating Agency.

Tevta, JICA to upgrade mechanical tech depts
Lahore (Staff  Reporter): TEVTA with the collaboration of JICA (Japan) will upgrade its Mechanical Technology Departments for 3 years Diploma of Associate Engineer (DAE) at 12 Govt. Colleges of Technology across the province of the Punjab.  This upgradation will provide skilled training to the manpower according to the international level.  In this regard, TEVTA has signed an MoU with JICA here yesterday at TEVTA Secretariat.  Chairperson TEVTA Irfan Qaiser Shaikh and JICA Team Leader Takafumi Ueda signed the MoU.  Chief Operating Officer TEVTA Jawad Ahmed Qureshi, Team members of JICA Hidekazu Tanemura, Ms. Ayako Ishiwata, Akira Takagi and other officers were also present on the occasion.
According to MoU, JICA will provide technical assistance for the state of the art Mechanical Technology in Govt. Colleges of Technology at Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Jhelum, Gujrat, Layyah, Multan, Sangla Hill, Sahiwal, Sargodha, Sialkot, Bahawalpur and Govt. Staff Training College Faisalabad.   On this occasion, Chairperson TEVTA Irfan Qaiser Shaikh while addressing the participants said that this MoU is a forward step after establishing center of excellence at Govt. College of Technology Railway Road Lahore by JICA.

Coca-Cola book bank

LAHORE (PR): Coca-Cola Pakistan will be enhancing its involvement with the Karachi Literature Festival this year, by setting up a Book Bank during KLF 2015 that will collect donations of books by visitors and share complimentary Coke products. All books collected during the festival will be reviewed by The Citizens Foundation (TCF), and all books found suitable for TCF students will be taken over by the Foundation. Other books will be sold off in the market and the proceeds will also be donated to TCF. For this Book Bank activity, old glass-fronted coolers, not in use any more, will be refurbished to serve as bookshelves to collect all donated books.
With KLF 2015, Coca-Cola’s support to the festival enters its third consecutive year. The Company remains the sponsor of the KLF - Coca-Cola Prize for the best book in English language by a Pakistani author. The yearly sponsorship has also included an honorarium for the judges, and complimentary availability of the Company’s drinks for thousands of visitors to the KLF throughout its duration.   
Coca-Cola Pakistan has previously also sponsored the complete construction of a TCF school in flood-affected Muzaffargarh district, and is also bearing the operational costs of the school for 3 years. Its ongoing support to education also extends to the CARE Foundation and to government schools, under the Adopt-a-School programme.  

Telenor crosses 2.6m subscribers in 73 cities
KARACHI (PR): Telenor Pakistan has announced on Wednesday that it has crossed the 2.6 million 3G subscriber mark in 73 cities - enabling the company to maintain its leadership as the largest and fastest growing 3G network in the country. During the current phase of commercial rollout, 3G services were launched in Pabbi, Karak, Sheikhupura, Toba Tek Singh, Lakki Marwat, Mianwali, Khyber Agency and Vihari.
Free trial of 3G services will be offered to Telenor Pakistan’s customers in these newly added areas for two weeks. The subscribers will be notified about the end of free 3G trial service via SMS and Telenor Pakistan’s official website. Under the free 3G trial offer, customers can enjoy 50 MBs of free data every day. Data services on 2G will be charged as usual.
Expressing his delight, Irfan Wahab Khan, Chief Marketing Officer, Telenor Pakistan said, “Crossing the 3G subscriber mark of 2.6 million is yet another testament of our commitment to facilitate 3G uptake by providing best in class and affordable internet services to all.” “We have a two-fold strategy to aggressively roll out 3G sites in the country: one is to increase the number of 3G sites within a city thus expanding the in-city coverage and other is to increase the number of 3G cities across the country. We will continue to strengthen our network reach and stay committed towards building an ecosystem to further facilitate 3G growth in the country,” he added.
It is pertinent to note that in 2013 Telenor Pakistan underwent an enormous network modernization activity which comprised swapping every single facet of its network, from base station equipment to value-added service platforms – and with this development it became the first mobile operator in the country with an end-to-end modernized network. The equipment installed was 24pc more energy efficient and possessed intelligent power management features with reduced power consumption. During the modernisation carbon emissions were drastically reduced making Telenor Pakistan one of the most fuel efficient organizations in the country.