Unilever invests $120m in Pakistan

KARACHI: Unilever has announced an investment of $120 million in Pakistan, acknowledging the country’s high potential for long-term growth. A majority of the amount will seek to enhance manufacturing operations across Unilever’s four factories in Pakistan over the next two years, said a press release.

Pak Suzuki earns Rs726m

KARACHI: Pak Suzuki Motor Company Limited (PSMCL) on Monday announced the results of the fourth quarter of 2017, with earnings at Rs726 million. Earnings per share (EPS) were Rs8.9, down 19 per cent year-on-year (YoY). Sales improved by 47pc YoY to Rs29 billion in 4Q2017 driven by volumetric growth which was up 34pc YoY.

Analyst Omar Basharat at Topline Securities said that in terms of volumetric growth, Suzuki Wagon R remained the most impressive variant with volumes reaching to 8,352 units in 4Q2017, up 100pc YoY, followed by Mehran (up 31pc) and Cultus (up 14pc). —Equities Correspondent

Habib Bank announces profit

KARACHI: Habib Bank Ltd (HBL) posted consolidated profit after tax at Rs7.8bn (EPS Rs5.34) for CY17 against net PAT of Rs34.2bn (EPS: Rs23.32) in CY16, down 77pc YoY.

Alongside the result, HBL also announced a final interim dividend of Re1 per share taking total payout to Rs8 per share.

Highlights of the results were flattish net interest income (NII) in CY17, provisioning reversal of Rs115m in CY17 after marking an expense of Rs1.1bn in the ninth month of 2017, 5pc YoY uptick in non-interest income and 11pc YoY lower capital gains. Total operating expenses were up by 13pc YoY.—Equities Correspondent

Facebook shares slide

NEW YORK: Facebook Inc’s shares fell more than 4 per cent in premarket trading after media reports that a political consultancy that worked on President Donald Trump’s campaign gained inappropriate access to data on 50 million Facebook users.

The move would knock $23.8 billion off the social network’s market value of $538bn as of Friday’s close and shares in other social media companies including Twitter Inc and Snap Inc also dipped in early deals in New York.—Reuters

Published in Dawn, March 20th, 2018