News Update Times

Karachi (Muhammad Yasir) A senior delegation of the Private Power & Infrastructure Board, Government of Pakistan, led by Mr. Shah Jahan Mirza, Managing Director, PPIB recently visited the under-construction China Power Hub Generation Company (Pvt.) Ltd. project at Hub, Balochistan. Along with Mr. Mirza, Mr. Ali Nawaz, Director Projects (Coal) and Mr. Nasir Jamal, Senior Manager Projects (Coal) were also present. 

The delegation was welcomed by Mr. Ren Lihui, Vice President, EPC, CPHGC and other senior executives.

During the scheduled visit, Mr. Shah Jahan Mirza and his team were briefed about the construction status and about the 2169 Pakistanis, out of the total workforce of 4195, who are employed at the Project. The delegation also visited the Plant including the GIS room, the Boiler area and the Coal Jetty.

PPIB delegation were also briefed that the project is being constructed by China Power Hub Generation Company (CPHGC) a joint venture project company setup by The Hub Power Company (HUBCO) and China Power International Holding Ltd (CPIH). With an estimated cost of approx. US$ 2 billion, the project is one of the largest coal based power projects being constructed under China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Project will contribute 9 Billion kWh of cheaper electricity annually into the National Grid.

Mr. Mirza and his team took keen interest in the details and later expressed satisfaction at the progress made by the Project. They reiterated PPIB’s commitment to continue to work alongside the Project team in order to ensure active coordination and timely resolution of any Project related issue.

Mr. Ren Lihui thanked Mr. Mirza and his team for the invaluable suggestions and reiterated CPHGC’s commitment towards working together with the Pakistani colleagues in building a bright future for Pakistan.

“As part of CPEC and the larger One Belt & One Road initiative, CPHGC will continue to honour its commitments, in the process strengthening the time-tested bonds of friendship that exist between China and Pakistan,” concluded Mr. Ren.

 

Karachi (Muhammad Yasir) HBL today declared a consolidated profit after tax of Rs 8.1 billion, with earnings per share for H1 18 at Rs 5.42. Along with the results, the Board declared a dividend of Rs 1.00 per share (10%), bringing the total dividend for the six months of 2018 to Rs 2.00 per share. Profit before tax for the six months of 2018 was Rs 14.1 billion. The consolidated Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) as at June 30, 2018 crossed the 17% mark, rising to 17.1% and the Tier 1 CAR rose by 79 bps over December to 12.8%. During the quarter, the Bank’s credit ratings were also re-affirmed by JCR-VIS at AAA/A-1+ for long term and short term respectively with the rating of its subordinated debt at AA+.

HBL’s core domestic business continues on a strong trajectory, with steady growth in key drivers. Total domestic deposits increased by 8% to nearly Rs 1.9 trillion and our leading market share increased further, to 14.4%. In the first six months of 2018 alone, the Bank added Rs 119 billion in domestic CASA deposits, and the ratio of current accounts rose to 36.3% in June 2018. Even more impressively, HBL’s average current accounts increased by around Rs 80 billion, a growth of 15% compared to the first half of 2017. 

With a renewed focus on robust lending growth, HBL’s domestic loan book increased by Rs 91 billion (13%) during the first six months with strong contributions from Islamic Financing, Consumer Lending and Corporate loans; the Bank’s steadily rising ADR improved to 47%, contributing to higher domestic interest income. However, with a reduction in the international balance sheet compared to 2017 levels, total net interest income declined by 2.7% to Rs 40.3 billion. In the first half of 2018, HBL continued its strong recovery performance, recording a reversal of Rs 240 million against loans, compared to a provision of Rs 564 million in H1 2017. The infection ratio further reduced to 7.6% while the coverage ratio strengthened to 91.7%.

HBL is fully committed to the financial inclusion of the country’s population and to expanding the digital retail payments infrastructure. In July, the Bank launched its proprietary and unique product, Konnect by HBL. This has received excellent market acceptance and in a few weeks, over half a million customers have been serviced. 25% of Konnect accountholders are women.  Within the first month, nearly 700,000 transactions with a value of over Rs 4.5 billion have taken place on the Konnect platform. HBL continues to widen its customer franchise and footprint; during 2018, the Bank has added over 600,000 customers, who it reaches through over 1,700 branches, 2,093 ATMs, 30,000 retail outlets and nearly 19,000 POS machines across Pakistan and our digital channels of HBL Mobile and Internet Banking.

HBL is conscious of its responsibility towards the development of Pakistan and is contributing Rs 100 million towards the construction of the Diamer Bhasha and Mohmand Dams. The Bank has embarked on a global business and compliance transformation project and will continue to invest in this area, in state of the art technology, and in building on its market leading brand presence. As part of this project, we intend to transform the way we deal with our valued customers and provide them exceptional service.

 

Karachi (Muhammad Yasir)   Chief Executive Officer of Engro Powergen Thar Limited (EPTL) Ahsan Zafar Syed has announced that Pakistan has made history by achieving successful connection of its two 330MW power plant with the national grid for the back-feed power supply required for the plant start-up. As per plan, the power plants are required to inject electricity to the NTDC grid post commissioning, and the successful back-feed operation of injecting electrons through the NTDC grid into the power plants is testament to the timely completion of the power project. 

Ahsan Zafar Syed said that the achievement of successful back-feed operations entailed construction work by NTDC of various aspects including laying down a 282-km long 500 kV Double Circuit Quad-Bundle transmission line from EPTL plant to Jamshoro in Sindh province. The laying of the transmission line also entailed construction of the foundations and eventual erection of 851 towers in a challenging and difficult to reach terrain. However, the transmission line was one of the key components and the power plant along with its various equipment also had to be aligned in time for successful testing and energization on 31 July 2018 by the EPTL management. The transmission line post-commercial operations of the project will be used to evacuate 660 MW of electricity from EPTL’s power plant situated at Tharparkar.

“This is a truly historic moment where we would like to acknowledge the efforts of the National Transmission & Dispatch Company (NTDC) who have been pivotal partners throughout the deployment of the project over the course of past 2.5 years. Moreover, EPTL would also like to thank Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA-G) for providing whole-hearted support to the project every step of the way and our Chinese partners China Machinery & Engineering Corporation (CMEC) who also played an instrumental role in ensuring successful back-feed supply for the plant start-up.”

Karachi (Muhammad Yasir) JCR-VIS Credit Rating Company Limited has upgraded the entity ratings of Meezan Bank Limited to ‘AA+/A-1+’ (Double A Plus/A-One Plus). JCR-VIS has also upgraded ratings of the outstanding Basel 3 Compliant Sukuk ratings of Meezan Bank to ‘AA’ (Double A) from ‘AA-‘(Double A Minus). Outlook on the assigned ratings is ‘Stable’. The previous rating action was announced on June 22, 2017.

The assigned ratings to Meezan Bank incorporate the Bank’s dominant position in the Islamic banking industry with the Bank having a market share of around 36% in total Islamic banking deposits. Ratings also reflect Meezan Bank’s healthy customer franchise which has resulted in strong growth with deposits recording a 5 year CAGR of 23.9% (Industry deposit growth of 13.1%) resulting in continuous increase in overall market share to 5.4% (2016 : 5%) at year end 2017. Deposit base largely comprising cost effective retail deposits. Besides increasing market share, rating upgrade takes into account strong asset quality indicators, improving operational efficiency and projected increase in capitalization buffers. Ratings also take into consideration the strength and stability of the senior management team spearheaded by the founding President & Chief Executive Officer.

Broad based growth in financing portfolio was witnessed in the outgoing year with Corporate, Commercial & SME (CBSME) and Consumer financing portfolio increasing by 29%, 53% and 48%, respectively, during 2017. Moreover, overall trade business of the Bank recorded an increase of 29% and crossed Rs. 700 billion in 2017 putting it amongst the leading players in peer banks in terms of trade business. Asset quality indicators compare favourably to peer banks with gross infection ratio at 1.54% and provisioning coverage at 133%. Given the aggressive growth in financing portfolio, mid-term economic scenario and policy rate regime, maintaining asset quality indicators in line with benchmarks for the assigned ratings is considered important.

Net investment portfolio of the Bank represents around 15% of the total asset base. Investments include strategic stake in Al Meezan Investment Management Limited (AMIML). AMIML is a leading player in the asset management industry enjoying strong franchise and financial profile.

In 2017, Meezan Bank completed a 6% Right Issue of shares to the existing shareholders resulting in an equity injection of Rs. 3billion. This along with retained profits resulted in growth in net equity base of the Bank. Tier-1 Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) and leverage ratio improved on a timeline basis. Going forward, sizeable increase in total eligible capital is planned over the next two years through a combination of internal capital generation and external sources including issuance of Basel 3 compliant Capital Instruments. In this regard, Meezan Bank is in the process of issuing Additional Tier 1 Sukuk and is currently seeking subscription from the investors. Maintaining cushion over regulatory CAR requirement in line with benchmarks for the assigned ratings is considered important for maintaining the assigned ratings.

Profit before tax witnessed a growth of 14.6% and 28% during 2017 and 1Q18, respectively. Growth in profitability was driven by volumetric growth in earning assets and increase in fee based income due to higher income from Alternate Delivery Channels and trade business. With higher volumetric growth projected vis-à-vis peer banks (due to aggressive branch expansion pursued over the last few years) and increasing benchmark rates, profitability of Meezan Bank is projected to depict strong double digit growth over the medium term.

Lahore (Muhammad Yasir)  – Jubilee Life Insurance, Pakistan’s leading life insurance provider, has partnered with Cinepax Cinemas to promote the burgeoning film industry in Pakistan. Through this year-long agreement, signed by both organizations in July, Jubilee Life Insurance has cemented its role as a patron and supporter of Pakistani sports, arts and culture. 

Jubilee Life Insurance has collaborated with Cinepax Cinemas, which is currently operating 13 cinemas with 30 screens in 9 cities across Pakistan including Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Gujrat, Hyderabad and Islamabad having a total of 6,000 plus seats nationwide. Cinepax Cinemas will provide Jubilee Life Insurance with opportunities for on screen advertising, premises branding, on ground activation and various offers for Saffron members such as buy one-get one free silver screen tickets with popcorn and drink. Saffron is a loyalty club for its high net worth customers, who have put their faith in Jubilee Life Insurance and are gratified to be associated with the company for a secured financial future.

On this occasion, Javed Ahmed, CEO and MD, Jubilee Life Insurance said, “Film can be a powerful medium of mass communication and if used sensibly, movies can be used to convey a wide variety of messages to communities along with providing quality entertainment. We are pleased to be supporting Cinepax and hope our partnership can help the growth of Pakistan’s film industry. Jubilee Life Insurance is also actively supporting country’s development in areas of Sports, Education, Entrepreneurship and Arts.”

Ms. Mariam El Bacha CEO Cinepax Pakistan said, “Cinemas are becoming best entertainment hubs for families. We are undergoing a revival and everyone involved wants to make sure this evolution brings about a strong industry that every Pakistani can claim and own proudly. It is wonderful to have partners like Jubilee Life Insurance supporting the cause and we hope this will be a mutually beneficial partnership.”

Jubilee Insurance is a global brand of Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED) that offers diverse insurance solutions (life, health and general) in the Asian and East African markets. Jubilee Life in Pakistan offers uniquely designed range of life and health insurance plans, catering to various customer segments and needs. These include retirement, child education, marriage, saving & protection, wealth accumulation, life insurance plans for women, rural insurance plans and life and health insurance solutions for the less privileged of our country. The company is also amongst the leading Window Takaful Operator’s in Pakistan.

Cinepax Cinemas is Pakistan’s largest cinema network committed to provide unmatched quality entertainment. Cinepax Cinemas believes that be it comfort, indulgence or state of the art visual/sound is key to enhancing a customer’s experience. They bring the future of cinema entertainment to your doorstep offering unsurpassed levels of service, online ticketing purchase at the comfort of your home mixed with the best digital experience.