KARACHI, July 30: Century Paper and Board Mills Limited — a Lakson group company — announced on Wednesday that it had made profit after tax in the sum of Rs271 million for the year ended June 30. The board of directors also recommended final cash dividend at Rs3 per share (30 per cent), which took total payout to Rs4.50 (45 per cent) for the year.

The company was the first listed industrial unit to have announced audited financial figures for the year ended June 30, 2003 — within a month of the close of the year. The statutory maximum time limit for declaration of audited annual accounts set by the SECP’s promulgated ‘code of corporate governance’ is four months, which was reduced from the previously allowed six months under the Companies Ordinance, 1984.

Investors’ response to the accounts and dividend announced by Century Paper, was cool with the stock shedding Rs3.70 during the day’s trading on Wednesday to close at Rs70.30, from the opening value of Rs74, after a brief rise to day’s highest at Rs75. But the Century Paper share has galvanized 63 per cent in seven months, from its value of Rs43 on January 3, this year. The KSE-100 index has risen by 42 per cent during the same time.

In a press release issued on Wednesday, the company — a producer of paper and paperboard — claimed to be the only company in the sector to have certification of ISO 9001:2000. The profit for the latest year, represented 25 per cent increase over last year and the earnings per share (eps) worked out at Rs8.62.

Company chief executive M. Rafi Chawla stated that with the completion of expansion projects, the capacity had increased by an additional board machine; box making plant had also been successfully commissioned. “During the last three years, the company has carried out capital expenditure of around Rs1 billion on BMR projects,” Mr Chawla said, adding the company’s pulp mill expansion project would be completed during the financial year 2003-04.