With the paints segment demerged and domestic cotton prices gradually moving up north, ICI Pakistan is preparing for relatively improved results in CY13.
Despite having incurred a sizeable increase in distribution and selling cost on common size grounds and having spent over Rs 14 billion for capacity expansions in 2012, Nestle’s top line growth failed to rise accordingly. If it weren’t for a significant improvement in gross profit margins, Nestlé’s bottom line could have been lot thinner.
Having stayed in the green for the first half of FY13, the current account has firmly been pushed in the red, with deficit crossing the billion dollar mark. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) released the BoP statistics, showing a sharp surge in current account deficit in March. The current account deficit of $513 million in March alone equalled the CA deficit recorded in the first 8MFY13.
Coming in slightly below expectations, Engro Foods opens the year on a relatively subdued note as the top line manages to shed 0.4 percent, even as earnings climb a healthy 34 percent year-on-year.
With its market share in the 1300 cc segment dropping to 57 percent in 9MFY13 from 72 percent in the corresponding period last year, Indus Motors clearly appears to be in hot waters.
Even the largest multinational pharmaceutical company in Pakistan is facing a constrained growth environment. The turbulence brought by the devolution of ministry of health, high inflation, depreciating currency and a capped pricing policy remain significant challenges for GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).
Foreign private sector invested $820.7 million in Pakistan in the nine months ending March 2013. That’s a decent jump of 60 percent over the same period of last year. The devil, however, lies in the details.
