Soneri Bank announces third quarter results
KARACHI (PR): Soneri Bank Limited posted profit before tax of Rs2,619.75 million and profit after tax of Rs.1,541.71 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2016. The Board, in its 151stmeeting held on October 21 ,approved the bank’s third quarter financial statements.
During the period, deposits grew by 9.04 percent closing at Rs.201.97 billion (December 2015: Rs.185.22 billion). Net advances were down by 11.96% to Rs.98.61 billion (December 2015: Rs.112.00 billion) due to seasonal factors. Bank’s net assets (including surplus) amounted to Rs.18.26 billion as at 30September 2016.
The bank continues to follow a prudent policy of making provisions against infected loan portfolio in line with regulatory requirements. Soneri Bank has a unique market position in trade-finance and transactions banking services and boasts a loyal and satisfied client-base in all its 281 branches all over the country. The Bank is committed to meet the increasing expectations of its customers and continue to provide them par-excellence services, for which the Bank has been investing prudently in information technology, human resources, marketing and infrastructure.
UCWeb launches UC Student Ambassador Programme
ISLAMABAD (PR): UCWeb, a portfolio company of Alibaba Mobile Business Group, has hosted its first UC Browser users meet-up event in Islamabad. Attended by more than 250 UC fans, the event provided a better understanding of UC Browser, the top mobile browser in the world, to its users and officially launched UC Student Ambassador Programme Pakistan. Through this program, college students are able to apply for internship or even project fund for mobile internet related activities.
Speaking at the occasion, Serena Zhang, Marketing Manager Pakistan, said: “Helping young college students to achieve their dreams is one of our consistent focuses in our CSR activities. Through the UC Student Ambassador Program, we hope to provide real life opportunities to Pakistani students that will help them to build a better career.”
The meet-up was hosted by UCWeb team from China at the National Library of Pakistan, Islamabad, with a keynote session from Leslie Chen, Product Manager, Emerging Markets, on UC Browser’s development areas and its strategy for Pakistani users. He shared different technological challenges faced while delivering the top notch browsing experience to the users and how UC team had implemented a core localization of the application by serving content in Urdu, Pakistan’s national language. Wrapping up his session, Leslie Chen said “UC Web is committed to changing lives of Pakistanis by providing the best technological solutions available and this project reflects our dedication and commitment to the long standing Pakistan-China friendship.”
German Food Festival
KARACHI (PR): The finest hotel of Pakistan, the “Avari Towers Hotel”, is always focused in arranging gastronomically inspired food festivals from around the world. This time they are celebrating Germany‘s culinary traditions from 21st October – 28th October at their German Food Festival at Asia Live Restaurant.
Erik Huyer, General Manager Avari Towers Karachi said, “German festival is full of flavorful food choices for anyone wanting to sink their teeth into something sweet or savory. They should come and experience different cuisines at our Hotel.”
Gold medal awarded
KARACHI(PR): Dr Hussain Ahmad Khagan has been awarded gold medal for innovations in Ophthalmology at SAARC Academy of Ophthalmology Congress 2016, held in Karachi. He is working as Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology at Post Graduate Medical Institute/Lahore General HospitaI,Lahore.He is the youngest eye surgeon to get this prestigious award.
To his credit numerous international and national awards. He is the author of two books of Ophthalmology.He is the founder of ithaqanis Retinoblastoma Foundation working for awareness of childhood eye cancer.
AT&T in advanced talks to buy Time Warner
NEW YORK (AFP): Telecom giant AT&T is in advanced talks to acquire entertainment group Time Warner to add in-house content to distribution services, a banking source familiar with the negotiations said late Friday.
A deal possibly worth more than $90 billion could be announced as soon as Monday, the source told AFP, confirming a report in The Wall Street Journal.
AT&T is the second-largest US wireless carrier and third-largest cable TV provider in the United States, while Time Warner controls a valuable stable of entertainment content suppliers, including Warner Bros. film and TV studios, the HBO television production group, cable news giant CNN, and the TNT and TBS cable channels.
The two parties have reached agreement on many important points, but key outstanding issues include the exact price and a breakup fee should antitrust regulators balk at the transaction, the source said. A deal could likely price Time Warner at $110 per share, or around $90 million, the person said. The deal would be structured in cash and stock, but there is a chance other prospective acquirers could step forward, the source added.
A union of the two media giants, together worth more than $300 billion in market value, would be sure to face tough scrutiny from US antitrust regulators because of the ripple effects across media platforms.
Analysts believe the transaction also could spark other big deals involving large media companies.
The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Apple had approached Time Warner about a possible deal a few months ago, but the talks did not progress. Apple is continuing to monitor the negotiations, the newspaper said.
The negotiations come amid challenges to media companies due to the decline of conventional cable television as more consumers turn to streaming on mobile technology.
AT&T had $147 billion in revenues in 2015 while Time Warner reported $28 billion.
AT&T has pursued an aggressive expansion, paying almost $50 billion to buy satellite television provider DirectTV in 2015.
Time Warner shares soared 7.8 percent Friday following reports of the talks. It was up another 4.9 percent in afterhours trade on fresh reports suggesting that the two sides were even closer to a deal.
AT&T dropped 3.0 percent during regular-hours trading Friday, and fell another 0.7 percent in after-hours trade.