KARACHI, Oct 9: On Tuesday, Orix Leasing Pakistan Limited announced the financial figures for the year ended June 30, 2001, posting 14.8 per cent growth in pre-tax profit to Rs179.3 million, from Rs156.1 million the previous year. The Board has recommended cash dividend at 25 per cent tied to a stock bonus, one-for-five (20 per cent).

The stock market greeted the results and the dividend with a 7 per cent (Rs2) increase in the company’s share price which closed at Rs30 with 144,500 shares changing hands during the day.

After tax profit for the year improved 13.2 per cent to Rs154.3 million, from a year ago taxed profit amounting to Rs136.1 million. Earning per share works out at Rs7.66, which places the stock on price-to-earnings ratio of 3.9x.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, Orix Leasing said that the company had provided lease financing of Rs5 billion to 2,100 business enterprises. Total assets of the company amounted to Rs9.2 billion and the net worth stood at Rs1.03 billion.

The company stated that Orix had expanded operations during the year by opening branches in Hyderabad and Multan, increasing its presence to eight cities in Pakistan. The company said that Orix’s associated leasing company in Saudi Arabia started operations earlier this year and recently plans were announced for a UAE leasing company with the Majid Al Futtaim Group.

Orix Leasing Pakistan is a subsidiary of ORIX Corporation and one of the biggest leasing companies in Pakistan. The company acts as the Regional Head Office for ORIX Corporation for Middle East and North Africa Region, which includes joint venture leasing companies in Oman, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

Orix Leasing Pakistan has the benefit of its parents enormous assets and reputation. Besides being Japan’s largest leasing company, ORIX Corporation was understood to be one of the biggest diversified financial services companies in the world with special expertise in aircraft and ship financing. The company has operations in 21 countries and has assets in excess of $50 billion. ORIX is listed on the Tokyo and the New York Stock Exchanges.

Orix Leasing has called the annual general meeting of shareholders on November 13 at Karachi. At three times the par value, the share in Orix leads the rest of the 30 plus listed leasing companies on the Karachi Stock Exchange.

The financial results for the year ended June 30, 2001 showed that the aggregate revenues for the year increased by 37.4 per cent to Rs1,347 million, from Rs980 million the previous year, with revenue from finance lease up 32.7 per cent to Rs1,050 million, from Rs791 million in 2000. Other sources of income included: instalment loans amounting to Rs68.4 million; operating leases Rs106.2 million and ‘other income’ Rs121.9 million.

Aggregate expenditure increased by 41.6 per cent to Rs1,167 million, from Rs824 million. The largest item was finance and bank charges, which rose 35.8 per cent to Rs763.2 million, from Rs562.3 million the previous year.

Selling, general and administrative expenses amounted to Rs187.1 million; direct cost of leases aggregated to Rs145 million and the allowance for potential lease, instalment and other loan losses stood at Rs70.8 million. The last item reflected 78 per cent increase over the earlier year’s Rs39.7 million.

Shareholders would be told at the AGM on November 13, whether the current crisis had impacted the leasing industry in any way. Armed with the numbers for the first four and a half months for the year, directors would be well placed to forecast the possibilities for the first half of the year and may be beyond.

The board proposes to pay out 59 per cent of the after tax profit in dividend to the shareholders. Compared with 40 per cent cash dividend paid for each of the past two years, cash dividend has been raised to 25 per cent, along with one-for-five bonus shares. In terms of the Orix Leasing stock price, which contains premium of 200 per cent, the bonus is likely to be met with a cheerful shareholders’ approval.