KARACHI, Aug 7: The financial performance of state-run cement units has improved as a result of capital restructuring and improvement in efficiency since July 2001, says a press release of State Cement Corporation of Pakistan (SCCP) issued on Thursday.

Measures taken in the two cement units included capital restructuring in Javedan Cement (JCL) and Thatta Cement (TCL). Outstanding SCCP loans of these units including interest were converted into equity. Resultantly, JSL had a positive equity of Rs128 million and TCL of Rs208 million as on June 30, 2003.

Since the PIDC chairman Zahid Husain was given additional charge of SCCP, the head office of the Cement Corporation was shifted to Karachi to cut costs by using PIDC staff without incurring any additional expenditure.

Other measures included: SCCP funds were put in more lucrative investments and unutilized machinery was used to carry out repairs at the plants. Expenses were reduced and efficiency was improved.

According to a press release, the SCCP’s pre-tax profits went up from Rs42 million in 2001-2002 to estimated Rs62 million in 2002-2003.

The registered sales of the two units during May and June were Rs30,000 and Rs40,000 tons respectively, record sales according to SCCP.