KARACHI: Indus Motor Company (IMC) has raised prices of various models by Rs65,000-307,000 effective from April 20.

After the hike, the new rates of Toyota Corolla XLI, XLI AT, GLI and GLI AT will be Rs2.109 million, Rs2.184m, Rs2.364m and Rs2.439m, respectively - each higher by Rs65,000.

Meanwhile, the price of Altis 1.6 has gone up by Rs100,000 to Rs2.674m, Altis 1.8MT by Rs111,100 to Rs3.069m and 1.8 CVT rising by Rs109,600 to Rs3.205m.

Fortuner’s diesel and petrol variants also saw their rates jacked up by Rs307,100 and Rs260,100 to Rs7.819m and Rs7.299m, respectively.

Similarly, Hilux prices have been swelled by Rs80,000 and that of Revo by Rs150,000.

A dealer said the rupee depreciation against the dollar has pushed up cost of imports of parts and accessories. According to him, IMC had increased prices due to hike in cost of completely knocked down kits and local parts. This impact has also led to an increase in prices of company’s vendors as well.

IMC claims to have achieved 65 per cent localisation level yet its prices have gone up drastically over the past year or so. On Jan 1, 2018, dollar was equal to Rs110 as compared to current rate of Rs142.

According to Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, overall import bill of completely and semi-knocked down kits of cars during 9MFY19 rose to $611.4 million from $593m in same period last year.

Engro Fertilisers profit up

Engro Fertilisers posted profit after tax (PAT) at Rs4.01 billion for the first quarter of CY19, translating into earnings per share at Rs3.

The PAT was up 3pc over Rs3.89bn and EPS of Rs2.91 in same period last year. During 1QCY19, sales surged by 30pc to Rs23.7bn, from Rs18.2bn, mainly due to 42pc jump in DAP offtake along with 28pc and 21pc rise in urea and DAP prices, respectively.

In material disclosure statement, the board said that on Feb 27, Engro Fertiliser received an unsolicited non-binding offer from Engro Corporation Ltd for the acquisition of 100pc of the paid-up capital of Engro Eximp FZE, a wholly owned subsidiary of the company.

“The board in their meeting on April 19 resolved to pursue the proposed transaction at an aggregate price of Rs1.76bn, subject to adjustments at the date of closing and required approvals including that of shareholders in extraordinary general meeting.”

Published in Dawn, April 20th, 2019