Santos file injunction for Neymar transfer details

The Brazilian club have lodged a legal complaint in an attempt to see the agreement that Barcelona had with Neymar's father's company regarding his transfer

Santos have stepped up their fight to find out the exact details of Neymar's agreement with Barcelona by filing for an injunction.

The Brazil international joined Barca in early June last year for an estimated €57.1 million, although details released by the Catalans in January revealed that the total pre-wage expense was €86.2m.

The €57.1m included €40m to Neymar's parents' company, N&N, owned by his father and mother, with confirmation of the deal last month causing Santos - who only received €17.1m - to demand knowledge of the finer details of the 22-year-old's agreement with the Camp Nou club.

Neymar Sr told Santos he would explain the details of his 2011 agreement with Barca to them but refused to show them the documents, which infuriated the South American giants and they threatened to take legal action.

The Brazilian club have followed up on their warning and confirmed on Tuesday that they have filed for a legal injunction against N&N and Barca in a bid to see for themselves what the deal with their former player was.

"After exhausting all attempts at amicably obtaining the contracts and documents signed between N&N or Neymar to Barcelona, Santos handed an injunction against these companies in late Monday 10 February," the club said in a statement on their website.

"The injunction by Santos seeks to obtain such documents to allow them to be analysed, so that the club know the reasons for the receipt of [€40m] by the company mentioned above without the knowledge of Santos FC and the other economic rights holders of the athlete."

If their injunction is granted then Barca and Neymar Sr will be legally obliged to show Santos their agreement, unless a successful appeal is lodged.

Try to keep up: Ministry to promote chip design, manufacturing

The electronics manufacturing industry is the largest and the fastest growing industry in the world and at present its size is estimated at $1.75 trillion. PHOTO: FILE

ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Science and Technology is all set to promote chip design and manufacturing industry in an effort to achieve self-reliance and promote domestic design and manufacturing and achieve a turnover of $10m annually by 2018.

“We are taking steps to promote electronics system design and manufacturing in the country for economic development, employment generation and increase in exports of this sector,” an official at the ministry said on Tuesday.

Officials said the ministry was taking steps to increase availability of skilled manpower in the electronics design and manufacturing sector to create an enabling environment for local and foreign investment and to achieve the human resource creation target – 500 masters and 100 PhDs annually – by 2017.

To meet these targets, the officials said, an extensive human resource development (HRD) programme may be launched in the high-technology semi-conductor design and manufacturing in collaboration with local and foreign universities to ensure availability of adequate trained and skilled manpower for the industry.

“Semi-conductor wafer fabrication facilities will be established for the manufacturing of chips and components,” an official said.

Along with this, the establishment of Conformity Assessment Centres will facilitate the production of quality electronic products.

The electronics manufacturing industry is the largest and the fastest growing industry in the world and at present its size is estimated at $1.75 trillion.

In Pakistan, the industrial base in this sector is negligible, though the country is among major users of electronic goods.

By establishing the electronics manufacturing industry, a large number of unemployed youth can be employed in this area.

“For self-reliance, the promotion of the electronics system design and manufacturing industry is essentially required,” the official said.

Talking about key areas of the electronics system design and manufacturing, he said they included consumer electronics, information technology and telecom, automotive electronics, electronic components, chip design, medical electronics, power electronics and LED lights.

MCB Bank’s profit rises 4% in ‘tough year’

18% is the increase in net interest income for ABL for 2013. PHOTO: FILE

Net profit of MCB Bank for 2013 clocked in at Rs21.5 billion, 4% higher than its earnings of Rs20.7 billion last year, according to the bank’s unconsolidated financial results released on Tuesday.

In the last quarter of 2013, MCB’s earnings went up 8% year-on-year mainly on the back of its non-markup income and provisioning reversals. The bank also announced a cash dividend of Rs3.5 per share and 10% bonus shares.

According to Global Securities, 2013 was a ‘tough year’ in terms of spreads for MCB because declining interest rates and regulatory changes with regard to the cost of deposits kept spreads under pressure.

Data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) says the net spread of MCB in the first nine months of 2013 remained 2.9% as opposed to 3.5% in the comparable period of 2012.

Net interest income of MCB dipped 7% and 3% on an annual and quarterly basis respectively, according to the unconsolidated profit and loss statement. However, non-markup income posted strong growth of 22% year-on-year due to gains from the sale of Unilever Pakistan and Adamjee Insurance shares, Global Securities said.

“Improved recoveries of non-performing loans (NPLs) helped the bank register provisioning reversal of Rs2.8 billion in 2013 against the provisioning expense of Rs478 million in the preceding year. However, the positive impact of provisioning reversal was contained by an increase in non-markup expense that surged by 9% year-on-year, which is slightly higher than the CPI inflation of 7.68% year-on-year in the stated period,” it said.

However, going forward, Global Securities believes, the bank’s spread will improve, as interest rates on loans will adjust in line with the recent increase in the key policy rate.

Given that MCB is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 13 times, Topline Securities and BMA Capital maintain a ‘hold’ stance on MCB.

ABL’s earnings

Higher net interest income and ‘tax add-back’ lifted the net profit of Allied Bank (ABL) to Rs14.6 billion in 2013, up 26% from the preceding year.

According to Standard Capital Securities, ABL’s net interest income increased 18% to Rs21.7 billion compared with last year’s Rs18.4 billion mainly because of higher deposits and an expanding branch network.

“In spite of higher earnings, the bank slashed its payout ratio to 37% for 2013. It announced Rs1.5 per share cash dividend and 10% bonus shares in the final quarter,” it said.

The bank recorded a decrease of 30% in non-core business, which stood at Rs9.6 billion in 2013. ABL is also doing well with regard to non-performing loans (NPLs) and recorded a 13% lower provisioning cost to Rs565 million, it added.

Car sales rev up in new year

Analysts and industry officials both had predicted a sharp jump in car sales in January, as most people prefer to wait in December to book new car models in the first month of the year. PHOTO: FILE

KARACHI: 

Local car sales in January jumped by a significant 57% to reach 13,910 units compared to 8,868 units in previous month (December 2013), according to the latest data released by the Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association (PAMA).

Meanwhile, auto sales including light commercial vehicles, vans and jeeps in the first seven months (July-January) of fiscal year 2013-14 (FY14) also increased to 75,162 units, up 6.8% compared to 70,351 units in the same period last year.

Analysts and industry officials both had predicted a sharp jump in car sales in January, as most people prefer to wait in December to book new car models in the first month of the year.

“The sharp jump in January car sales is not unexpected as the demand for November and December 2013 also shifted to January (people prefer New Year car models),” JS Global Capital analyst Atif Zafar said.

Commenting on the seven-month figure, he said the increase of 7% in overall car sales was perfectly fine and as per market expectations.

“I think car sales in February will decline by 5-10%,” Zafar said, adding there were two reasons for that. First, January sales jumped because of low sales in November and December 2013 and second January sales usually remain high compared to other months.

Most analysts are predicting an overall increase of 7-8% in car sales in FY14. “Auto sales may reach 145,000 units in FY14, which will be 7% higher year-on-year (YoY) compared to FY13,” Topline Securities said on Tuesday.

According to company-wise data, sales of Pak Suzuki – the country’s largest carmaker – increased by 3% to 42,581 units during seven months of FY14 compared to 41,328 units last year.

However, on monthly basis, the company’s sales picked up to 7,089 units in January, up 18.5% compared to December. The monthly increase is on account of increased sales of Suzuki Ravi, Swift and Mehran.

In July-January FY14, sales of Indus Motor – the second largest carmaker in Pakistan – increased by 5% to 19,171 units as compared to 18,259 units in the same period of FY13.

Improvement in sales was primarily pushed by a 4.8% increase in Toyota Corolla sales to 16,486 units.

However, on monthly basis, Indus sales jumped to 3,992 units in January, up 101% compared to 1,982 units in December.

Sales of Honda Atlas Cars – the smallest carmaker – surged by 19.7% to 12,589 units in seven months of FY14. In January, sales of Honda Cars improved by 297% MoM to 2,600 units – the biggest jump among all three carmakers.

“We expect decent growth trend in car sales to continue in the remaining five months of the current fiscal year,” Topline Securities predicted.

Honda Atlas Cars was the only company that saw its sales jump in the previous fiscal year ended June 30, 2013 with sales of Pak Suzuki and Indus dropping 33% and 31% respectively.

Competitive pricing: Rice exporters gear up to capture Indian share

Rice yield in Pakistan is approximately 40-50 maunds (40kg) per acre, far less than India’s yield. PHOTO: FILE

FAISALABAD: 

A sharp increase in the price of Indian rice has turned international buyers to Pakistan, creating an opportunity for rice exporters to step up efforts and boost their sales in international markets.

The price of Pakistani basmati rice in international markets is $1,300 per ton, the same as last year, but the price of Indian basmati is $1,500 to $1,520 per ton.

Pakistan is the world’s leading supplier of basmati, but in the last few years it has lost its competitive edge because of price and productivity declines. However, in the face of latest developments, Pakistan could regain its edge.

In the previous fiscal year, rice exports from Pakistan stood at $1.6 billion. In the first seven months of the current fiscal year, exports have crossed the $1 billion mark.

Talking to The Express Tribune, rice exporters said the price of Indian rice had increased significantly this year, which encouraged foreign buyers to look towards Pakistan.

“We have been able to capture international markets, which were previously dominated by Indian exporters, and are supplying them with large quantities of different varieties,” said Taufeeq Ahmad, former vice chairman of Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan.

He added the Super Basmati variety had been replaced with Kainaat 1121, which was earlier exported by India. This year, Kainaat is being produced in bulk in Pakistan. He expected rice exports to cross the $2 billion mark by June this year.

Another factor contributing to higher exports is the demand for brown rice, known as Sindhi rice, which has a big market in Middle Eastern countries. “All these factors have positively impacted the country’s exports,” he said.

In the past, in a bid to capture the international markets, India has traditionally set its prices at a lower level compared to Pakistan.

The main rice producing regions in Pakistan are Punjab and Sindh. Long-grain rice goes to countries like Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mozambique and China.

Pakistan’s traditional export markets are the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Iran. New African markets have also been tapped by the rice exporters.

Rice yield is approximately 40-50 maunds (40kg) per acre, far less than India’s yield. Farmers believe that the government should facilitate the agriculture sector by improving seed quality, ensuring smooth supply of fertilisers with price control and incentives for the growers

Country repays $147 million to IMF

$1b is the amount Pakistan has to repay the IMF in the remaining months of the current fiscal year. PHOTO: FILE

KARACHI: Pakistan paid the 27th instalment on Tuesday under the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Standby Agreement (SBA), amounting to $147 million, according to a spokesman for the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).

With the repayment of the fresh instalment, the country has repaid the IMF $6.544 billion since July 2011, of which $5.660 billion was returned under the SBA only, he added.

Foreign exchange reserves held by the SBP stood at $3.1 billion on January 31, according to latest data released by the central bank.

Pakistan has to pay about $1 billion to the IMF in the remaining months of the current fiscal year. This is significantly less than the payments the country made to the IMF in the first half of the fiscal year, which stood at almost $2 billion.

The depleting foreign exchange reserves of the country can only be checked if it receives foreign exchange inflows in two more IMF tranches amounting to $550 million each, apart from approximately $1 billion from the auction of next generation mobile spectrum licences.

In addition, the government also expects inflows of $800 million from Etisalat which, if realised, will strengthen the foreign exchange position

Worker remittances rise 10% in July-January

In January, the inflow of remittances from Saudi Arabia amounted to $393.12 million. PHOTO: FILE

KARACHI: Overseas Pakistani workers remitted $9.033 billion in the first seven months (July-January) of fiscal year 2013-14, a growth of 10.08% compared with $8.206 billion received in the same period of previous year.

Inflow of remittances in July-January FY14 from Saudi Arabia, UAE, USA, UK, Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries (including Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Oman) and European Union countries amounted to $2.597 billion, $1.786 billion, $1.441 billion, $1.309 billion, $1.048 billion and $251.13 million respectively.

In comparison, the inflows from these countries were $2.292 billion, $1.669 billion, $1.324 billion, $1.155 billion, $941.83 million and $217.89 million respectively in July-January FY13.

Remittances from Norway, Switzerland, Australia, Canada, Japan and other countries during the first seven months of the current fiscal year amounted to $600.85 million against $605.89 million in the same period a year ago.

In January, the inflow of remittances from Saudi Arabia, UAE, USA, UK, GCC countries and EU countries amounted to $393.12 million, $213.50 million, $193.01 million, $169.46 million, $150.31 million and $34.56 million respectively.

In January 2013, the inflows were $331.40 million, $208.46 million, $168.46 million, $150.34 million, $130.65 million and $29.12 million respectively. Remittances from Norway, Switzerland, Australia, Canada, Japan and other countries during January this year amounted to $89.43 million.