KARACHI, Nov 17 Unilever Pakistan Foods Limited (UPFL) confirmed on Tuesday that Conopco Inc. New Jersey, USA, had acquired further 116,000 shares in the company, raising its stake to 75.85 per cent.

The US firm already held 4.67 million (69 per cent) of the Unilever Pakistan Food stock. The information was earlier conveyed to the two stock exchanges (KSE and LSE) by the holding company in compliance with the requirements of Section 4(1) Of the Listed Companies (Substantial Acquisition of Voting Shares and Takeover Ordinance, 2002).

UPFL 2008 annual report mentioned that “Through its wholly owned subsidiary, Conopco Inc. USA, Unilever N.V., a company incorporated in Holland, was the holding company of 74 per cent shares in UPFL.”

The total paid-up shares in Unilever Pakistan Foods stood at 6.1576 million.

The company's annual report for 2008 showed that other than Conopco Inc. a total of 718 shareholders held the balance of equity, with no more than 43,000 shares dispersed among 674 individuals. None of the shareholders other than the holding company commanded 10 per cent or more voting interest.

As most of the shares of Unilever Foods Pakistan are held in frozen blocks only 3,294 shares came up for trading at the stock exchanges during the first 10 months of the current year. It is, perhaps, partly for that reason that the 10-rupee stock in the company is quoted at the high price of Rs1,311 at the KSE and is quite out of the reach of ordinary shareholders.

On April 24, 2007 Rafhan Best Foods Limited was renamed Unilever Pakistan Foods. The company is an affiliate of Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) giant, the Unilever Pakistan; the stock of which trades separately on the KSE with the current price tag at Rs2,422 for a 50-rupee share.

Unilever Pakistan Foods markets among others, the Knorr, Energile, Glaxose-D and Rafhan.

In the last reporting season for the quarter ended Sept 30, 2009, the company announced at the KSE, profit-after-tax amounting to Rs183 million on net sales at Rs2.7 billion.

As on that date, the company held Rs1 billion in total assets and Rs240 million in reserves against paid-up capital of Rs61.6 million.

In their annual report 2008, directors had observed that Pakistan was yet to feel the full impact of global recession that had set in. But the consumer disposable income was expected to remain under pressure making them more discerning.