The Secretary, Privatisation Commission, reiterated on Saturday that the National Refinery Ltd (NRL) and Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd (PTCL) will come under hammer on May 31 and June 10, respectively. Tehseen Iqbal Khan told reporters at the first road show for initial public offering of United Bank Ltd (UBL) shares at a local hotel, that the privatisation programme was on schedule. He added that bidding for PTCL will be held on June 10, followed by PSO, Pakistan Steel, Sui Southern Gas Ltd and Sui Northern Gas Ltd.
To a question, he said UBL should not be compared to PIA, which was under pressure due to rise in fuel prices and fleet expansion plan.
He said UBL was a highly profitable bank and growing at a faster pace. This has so far reported a profit of Rs 4.5 billion and paid the government Rs 522 million as dividend during 2004. It has to pay another Rs 300 million to the government, he added.
Tehseen Iqbal observed that the offered price was much lower than the lowest calculated value by the privatisation commission.
To a question about the offered lot size, he said 388,000 people would get the chance to acquire 200 shares each. In case of a 500-shares lot, only 140,000 people would get it, he noted.
Earlier, chief executive officer of AKD Securities said the earning per share of UBL has increased from 60 paisa in 2002 to Rs 7.15 during 2004. In the first quarter EPS was estimated at Rs 1.9.
Similarly, non-performing loan (NPL) has declined from Rs 12.91 billion in 2000 to Rs 4.48 billion in 2004 which are only 3 percent to the total advances, the lowest in the industry.