KARACHI: Entities jostling for a potential initial public offering (IPO) on the Pakistan Stock Exchange have fallen in the last one year, as market turbulence caused them to back out due to the fright of under-subscriptions.
At the zenith of the KSE-100 index in late May last year, when it touched a record high of 52,876 points over 17 entities had applied for listing according to the daily quotation sheet of the exchange, reported Dawn.
The number of publicly listed companies on the stock exchange has fallen from a high of 638 six years ago to 559 currently.
At that juncture, Dalda Foods, Inbox Technologies Limited and a variety of funds in Gold Fund; Energy Fund; Capital Protected Fund; Active Allocation Fund; Strategic Allocation Fund; Treasury Fund; Prosperity Planning and privately placed sukuk had sought to be listed on the PSX.
However, in 2018 as per the quotation sheet of the exchange, only 7 companies are seeking a listing on the stock exchange which includes, Inbox Technologies Limited, Unicol Limited, At-Tahur Limited, Liberty Power Tech Ltd, TPL Life Insurance Ltd, Hira Terry Mills Ltd and Dalda Foods.
For the upcoming budget, PSX has recommended the government to provide a tax credit of 20 percent to be permitted for five years from the tax year in which an entity gets listed on the stock exchange.
Chairman PSX Board, Muneer Kamal stated before panic struck the Pakistan Stock Exchange in May 2017, many companies had been preparing for a listing but backed out due to fear of under-subscriptions.
