OGDCL declares 17.5pc dividend

The Board of Directors of Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) on Wednesday announced second interim cash dividend at Rs1.75 per share (ie 17.50 per cent) for the second quarter ended December 31, 2006. This is in addition to the first interim dividend of Rs1.75 per share already declared during the current financial year.

The net income of the company for the first half (July-December 2006), stood at Rs23.1 billion (EPS Rs5.37) compared to Rs20.3 billion (EPS Rs4.72) previously. This represents a growth of 14 per cent in bottom-line.

Nishat Mills gives no dividend

Nishat Mills announced no payouts to the shareholders despite depicting a growth of eight per cent in its net income that surged to Rs875 million (EPS: Rs5.48) for the current fiscal year’s first half ending December 31, 2006 from Rs811 million (EPS: Rs5.08) registered during the same period last year.

Although the overall textile sector exports exhibited a sluggish trend Nishat Mills exports continued to grow consistently posting an eight per cent growth over the corresponding period last year, said Farhan Aziz of JS Research.

Cooking the Books 101

Every company games the numbers to a certain extent to achieve budget and get bonuses. This is nothing new. But two things make the here and now different for us. First, our money is the issue (history is always about other people’s money). Second, these are BIG numbers.

Enron, Aldelphia and WorldCom are extreme examples. They are the few bad apples that get all the headlines. I believe that people with better ethics run the majority of companies. They may bend the rules, but few take the process to the extremes of Enron or WorldCom. If this weren’t true, we’d all be investing in government bonds

The Lowdown On Stock Buybacks

When times are tough in the market, companies will often announce stock buyback programs. Why would a company want to buy back its own shares? What does this mean for shareholders?

Buyback Basics
A stock buyback, also known as a “share repurchase”, is a company’s plan to buy back its own shares from the marketplace. You can think of a buyback as a company investing in itself, using its cash to buy shares. The idea is simple: since a company can’t own itself, the buyback reduces the number of outstanding shares on the market.

Buybacks can be carried out in two ways:

How The PEG Ratio Can Help Investors

The PEG (price/earnings to growth) ratio is a tool that can help investors find undervalued stocks. It’s not as well known as its cousins, the P/E and P/B ratios, but it is just as valuable. When used in conjunction with other ratios, it gives investors a perspective of how the market views a stock’s growth potential in relation to EPS growth.

What the PEG Ratio Is:
The PEG ratio compares a stock’s price/earnings (“P/E”) ratio to its expected EPS growth rate. If the PEG ratio is equal to one, it means that the market is pricing the stock to fully reflect the stock’s EPS growth. This is “normal” in theory because, in a rational and efficient market, the P/E is supposed to reflect a stock’s future earnings growth.

Types Of EPS

Types Of EPS

Gertrude Stein said, “A rose is a rose is a rose,” but the same cannot be said about earnings per share (EPS).

While the math may be simple, there are many varieties of EPS being used these days, and investors must understand what each one represents if they’re to make informed investment decisions. For example, the EPS announced by the company may differ significantly from what is reported in the financial statements and in the headlines. As a result, a stock may appear over- or undervalued depending on the EPS being used. This article will define some of the varieties of EPS and discuss their pros and cons.

New risk management measures

The stock market went down last week, but not due to changes in the margins regime that seems to have taken the back seat. This article is about the new risk management measures, which are likely to haunt the market after some time if not in the immediate future.