IESCO committed to continuous electricity supply: CEO

ISLAMABAD(Staff Reporter): The Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO) Chief Executive Officer has said that as per the government instructions, IESCO is fully committed for continuous electricity supply and maximum recovery from private and government defaulters. While chairing a high level meeting, The Islamabad Electric Supply Company Chief Executive Officer Basit Zaman said that weather is getting hot and load on system is gradually increasing. He directed all field officers that their most of the time should be in field, keep check on all transformers and if any transformer is overloaded it must be balanced or may replace with high capacity transformer. He directed the employees that customers’ complaints must be resolved on priority and stick action will be taken in case of any negligence. He also got briefing on performance of IESCO help line 118 and IESCO SMS service Roshni 8398.

Lucky Cement reports profit of

Rs10.42 billion

LAKKI MARWAT (Staff Reporter): Lucky Cement Limited reported net profit of Rs10.42 billion for the nine months ended March 31, 2017­, which is 8.4 percent higher as compared to the same period last year. Consequently, the earnings per share (EPS) for the nine months increased to Rs32.23 compared to Rs29.73 reported during the same period last year. The company’s net sales revenue increased by 5.4 percent to Rs35.24 billion compared to Rs33.43 billion reported during the same period last year. The increase in net sales revenue was mainly attributable to increase in sales volume. The local sales volume of the company during the nine months registered a growth of 18.6 percent to 4.60 million tons compared to 3.88 million tons reported during the same period last year, whereas export sales volume registered a decline of 23.9 percent to 0.93 million tons compared to 1.23 million tons reported during the same period last year.

 

 

On a consolidated basis, Lucky Cement reported net profit of PKR 12.05 billion for the nine months ended March 31, 2017 which is 9.3% higher as compared to the same period last year. Consequently, consolidated EPS during the nine months increased to PKR 37.27 compared to PKR 34.11 reported during the same period last year.

Lucky Cement also reported progress on its key local and international projects i.e. brown field expansion (installation of new production line) at Karachi Plant, fully integrated green field Cement Manufacturing Plant in Punjab province, investment in automobile Manufacturing plant under license from KIA Motors Corporation, brown field expansion in Cement Grinding unit in Republic of Iraq, 1 X 660 MW, supercritical coal based power project at Port Qasim. Further, the Company also announced successful commissioning and start of operations of 10 MW WHR plant (Kiln) at Pezu Plant.

Lucky Cement continued to play significant role under the ambit of corporate social responsibility. In this regard, the Company extended numerous scholarships for various leading universities in Pakistan. Furthermore, Lucky Cement continued its support to Aziz Tabba Foundation and Pakistan Welfare Association of the Blind for the treatment of blind children. Under the domain of empowering women in the country, Lucky Cement continued its support for two leading Government girls’ schools in Karachi in collaboration with Zindagi Trust.

About Lucky Cement:

Lucky Cement Limited (LCL) is the flagship company of the Yunus Brothers Group, which has a solid history of exceptional growth performance since its inception in 1993. LCL is one of the largest producers and leading exporters of quality cement in Pakistan, with a domestic production capacity of 7.75 million tons per annum. The Company is listed on the Pakistan and London stock exchange.

LCL’s manufacturing plants are strategically located in Northern and Southern regions of the country and is the only cement company to have its own loose cement export terminal at Karachi port with storage capacity of 24,000 tons.

Lucky Cement is an ISO 9001:2008 and 14001:2004 certified company and possesses many other international certifications including Bureau of Indian Standards, Sri Lankan Standard Institute, Standards Organization of Nigeria, Kenya Bureau of Standards and South African Bureau of Standards.

                Role of business community in national economy highlighted

LAHORE (Staff Reporter): Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) Senior Vice President Amjad Ali Jawa has said that business community is the driving force of the national economy and no country can move ahead without its due participation in the economic activities. While addressing 28-member delegation of 23rd Mid Career Management Course from National Institute of Management, he said consultation in trade, industry and economy related policy matters will boost the confidence of the business community and give them energy to help government in achieving economic targets. LCCI Vice President Muhammad Nasir Hameed Khan, former president Sohail Lashari and former vice president Aftab Ahmed Vohra also spoke on the occasion. The LCCI SVP shared his expertise with the visiting delegation on economic challenges, energy shortage, federal budget, trade deficit, China Pakistan Economic Corridor and millennium development goals.

He said that the Lahore chamber aims to promote trade and investment in the country through enacting upon the policies of the government and securing a business-friendly environment in the country. He said that the Lahore chamber also tries to secure a business-friendly environment through sharing views with the government. The primary objective of LCCI is to protect the interests of the business community while remaining committed to the cause of development of the country.

He said that there are a number of issues that must be tackled on priority, the biggest one is how to keep the momentum of growth in the wake of a less than targeted growth of the agriculture and the manufacturing sector. The second one is the widening gap between exports and imports that could be contained by reducing import of luxury items, he added.

Jawa said that the cut in the low input cost would make Pakistani products competitive in the international market where Pakistan is losing the international markets to China, India and even Bangladesh. He stressed the need for developing regional, product specific and target oriented marketing strategy. New markets and new products need to be explored to reduce country’s dependence on few commodities and countries. He said that Pakistan’s exports are highly concentrated in few items. Such concentration in few markets can also become a source for instability in export earnings, he added.

 

 

 

 6,496 acres railway land leased out in

last three years

ISLAMABAD (APP): Pakistan Railways has leased out as many as its 6496.13 acres land for various purposes, including premium shops, stacking, agriculture and parking stands during the last three years from January, 2014 to December, 2016. As many as 470 acres land was leased out in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 5,133 acres in Punjab, 833 in Sindh and 59 acres in Balochistan, an official in the Ministry told APP. He pointed out that Pakistan Railway had earned Rs4,653.917 million in last three years (2013-2016) as compared to Rs1,578.136 million in previous three years (2010-2013). "The policy of the present government is to maximise the use of surplus railway land through short term and medium term leasing instead of outright sale or long term leasing," he added. He said the leasing of railway lands for various purposes, therefore, was an ongoing process and would be actively used, specially for agricultural purposes.