KARACHI, July 25: Arif Habib Securities Limited (AHSL) on Thursday, reported record profit of Rs253.6 million for the financial year ended June 30, 2002, which the company claimed represented the “highest profit earned by a listed securities company in Pakistan”.

The Board also recommended cash dividend at 50 per cent, tied to a stock bonus at 20 per cent. The payout would be endorsed by shareholders at the company’s annual general meeting scheduled to be held on September 28.

In a statement, chairman Arif Habib stated that the company had kept up its commitment of setting high corporate standards by announcing audited results within 24 days of the close of financial year, which made it among the first listed companies to announce results for the financial year that closed on June 30, 2002.

The profit for the year announced by AHSL, translates into earnings per share (eps) of Rs50.72 and Return on Equity (ROE) of 51.27 per cent. “This level of ROE is perhaps the highest achieved by any company with capital and reserves that exceed Rs720 million and book value per share at a high Rs149.65”, the company chairman stated.

Earlier, AHSL’s affiliate Arif Habib Investments had also taken the lead when it announced results of Pakistan Income Fund (PIF) and Pakistan Stock Market Fund (PSF) — the two mutual funds under its management on July 1, 2002, which was within one day of the close of the financial year, the AHSL press release stated, adding that the company had also ensured that the distribution of profits to the unit holders was completed within the week following that announcement.

AHSL said that the company would expect to send out the dividend cheques and bonus shares immediately after the September 28 AGM, to those shareholders whose names would appear on the register of shareholders of the company on September 25, 2002.

The press release quoted the company chairman as saying that his financial services group would continue to set high corporate standards for providing best possible services to the minority shareholders and retail investors and to strive for enhancing shareholder value.