December 12, 2006	Tuesday	Ziqa'ad 20, 1427

KARACHI, Dec 11: The JCR-VIS Credit Rating Company Ltd (JCR,VIS) has reaffirmed the medium-to-long-term entity rating of BBB-(Triple-B minus) and short-term rating of A-3 (A-three) assigned to the MIMA Leather (Pvt) Ltd (MIMA).

According to the rating agency, the outlook on the medium-to-long term rating is ‘stable’.

The rating basically takes into account the position of the MIMA group as one of the leading leather exporters from Pakistan, as well as the absence of long-term debt in conjunction with the fact that there appears to be no requirement to raise funding for any significant capital expenditure in the near future. The situation is complemented by the demonstrated liquidity support available to MIMA from other group companies. Therefore, although the company incurred a slight loss in FY2006 on account of reduced sale of intermediate products and rising financial charges, JCR-VIS is of the opinion that this is in keeping with the overall cyclical behavior of the leather industry, which had been factored into the original rating.

—APP