There was a time when Al-Shaheer was used as a shining example of companies on the Pakistan Stock Exchange. In an index dominated by oil refineries, textile companies and banks, Al Shaheer was a company which broke the mould. A company involved in distribution, marketing and sales of meat products in Pakistan and outside the country, Al Shaheer was the pioneer in terms of being listed on the stock exchange. Al Shaheer walked so companies like The Organic Meat Company could run.
Recently, Al-Shaeer has been going through some serious issues. A company which was seeing profits and dividends has suffered its worst year till date in 2023. June 2023 saw the company making losses of Rs 1.8 billion. This fact was compounded by the recent quarterly earnings which saw the company going from a profit of Rs 13.6 crores last year to a loss of Rs 90.3 crores this year for the same quarter.
As the losses have started to accumulate, there has also been an exodus taking place in the board of directors with the company seeing almost five of its seven directors leave in a span of six months. The company has seen many of its top level executives leave and the accounts for December 2023 have still not been posted by the company. There is a history at the company to ask for extensions from the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) for extension in filing of accounts. The latest extension was sought by the company on 29th of February 2024, however, no such extension was granted to the company. The accounts which should have been filed by the start of March are still pending in June.
With so much chaos taking place at the company, what exactly is going on and how did things get so bad? Profit tries to piece together the puzzle. The content in this publication is expensive to produce. But unlike other journalistic outfits, business publications have to cover the very organizations that directly give them advertisements. Hence, this large source of revenue, which is the lifeblood of other media houses, is severely compromised on account of Profit’s no-compromise policy when it comes to our reporting. No wonder, Profit has lost multiple ad deals, worth tens of millions of rupees, due to stories that held big businesses to account. Hence, for our work to continue unfettered, it must be supported by discerning readers who know the value of quality business journalism, not just for the economy but for the society as a whole.To read the full article, subscribe and support independent business journalism in Pakistan
