KARACHI: Johnson & Phillips Pakistan Ltd, a listed company originally set up as a manufacturer of electrical equipment, said on Wednesday it’s opting for voluntary delisting from the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX).

The Karachi-based firm listed many reasons for going private, including the “ever-increasing compliance requirements” by the PSX and poor economic conditions that’ve made it “extremely difficult” for the sponsor to run the firm.

Another reason for the voluntary delisting is that the company is no longer a manufacturing concern and is engaged primarily in trading — something that’s also “getting extremely difficult” in view of a fluctuating currency, it said.

Other reasons include the small size of the company and the fact that a majority of shareholding is held by the sponsor and his family, resulting in nominal trading of shares on the exchange.

The voluntary delisting will take place through a buyback of shares currently owned by minority shareholders. The company’s free-float, which is the shareholding easily available for trading on the exch­ange, is only 10 per cent. Muhammad Anis Mianoor, majority shareholder, has proposed a purchase price of Rs35 per share for the 10pc stake controlled by minority shareholding.

The company posted a net loss of Rs6.5 million in the first nine months of 2022-23 versus a negative bottom line of Rs6.8m a year ago.

Published in Dawn, August 11th, 2023