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Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Dear Colleagues,
 This
year was not any other financial year for us but a special year. On July 2, 2008
we completed 60 years of our corporate life in Pakistan. To commemorate this special
occasion we made a documentary covering the history of Jaffer Group, launched a
website with a new look and created a new e-brochure. Unfortunately, we had to put
many of our planned anniversary celebrations events on hold due to political uncertainty
and the fragile law and order
situation in the country. It is time for me to share
the highlights of the year and our plans for moving forward with your support. However
before I do that, let me sincerely thank all of you for your significant contribution.
Alhamdolillah, our ‘Contract and Sales’ figures for 2008-09 are over Rs. 28 billion.
We will be making reasonable profit but unfortunately I still will not be able to
call it as good a year for the business as was anticipated. Some adverse effects
of the fluctuation in fertilizer prices in the international and local market will
spill over to the next financial year, impacting our next year profitability, as
well. Inshallah, however, we will be able to absorb this negative impact and move
on. The management remains fairly optimistic about our future and will continue
to invest through you to secure it.
P & M and F &C had another good year and both their teams continue to remain
our most consistent performers for the last many years! My sincere appreciation
to both the teams with a request, keep up the excellent work and dedicated skills
of success.
Pesticide business has not been as lucrative as it once was but we expect NICL to
do well in their financial year. In the last 2-3 years we have been able to refocus
the NICL business by adding value added products to enable us to take the business
into areas where the market promises growth. Our other initiative in agriculture
area, HEIS, has not yet started making profits as was expected when we started this
business. However I am very happy to report that we are the leader in this very
promising field, commanding a very impressive 40% plus market share. The future
holds a lot of potential. JBL through JAS views this project not only as a major
future business aligned with our vision and strategic direction, but as a venture
that will make significant contributions to our country and society and that is
why we must remain fully committed to it. We will continue to invest in this business
to serve the society we operate in and to make decent profit for our Group in the
years to come. We are taking on other activities in the area of Corporate farming
and are hopeful to share more information of it’s progress in the years to come.
The unprecedented rupee to dollar fluctuations severely affected JBS profitability
in the first 3-4 months of the financial year. Furthermore we committed ourselves
to a major project where we have and continue to suffer big losses. Despite these
challenges, JBS has ended the year with profit. This is a very good omen, and it
clearly shows our business resilience and the capacity that has developed in JBS
to withstand major, unexpected negative shocks. These shocks could only be sustained
due to their leadership focus on providing quality after sales service to their
customers thus deriving major profit. This aspect requires acknowledgement and appreciation
by us all. Furthermore with the help & guidance of SPD we have completed a JBS
Strategy 2009-2012 exercise and look forward to it’s implementation with the same
zeal and fervor shown by the whole team at JBS while developing the strategy. I
commit my support with the assistance of SPD & the senior leadership to ensure we steer it’s implementation to Inshallah achieve the set goals.
As you know we revived our construction business in 2007-08 and last year MBL started
its first project after 2003. Alhumdolillah despite a slump in the construction
Industry MBL has made major strides in this financial year ; ending the year with
good profit and with many projects in hand for the coming financial year.
One of our major strengths – ENTREPRENEUR INSTINCTS- allows our Special Projects
Team (offshoot of P & M ) to win some large businesses in the Northern areas
and the future prospects are bright. They need special recognition for their initiative
and valor. While our operation in Afghanistan is doing well and in this financial
year we have further expanded our reach and started our operations in Tokyo, Japan
which has started giving us positive results.
It gave me great pleasure to learn of the results of the Corporate Services Evaluation
Survey. Your evaluation shows considerable improvement in the quality of services
rendered by our service units to you and our business units. Many initiatives were
undertaken by Corporate Services this year to further improve the services which
has also confirmed your appreciation through the survey. Here I would also like
to compliment our Administration management on launching cafeteria facility in Karachi
and Islamabad offices serving healthy and hygienic food at an affordable price.
Recognizing significant improvement of Corporate Services through a Survey requires
me to Congratulate the ‘Whole Team’ for ensuring to maintain our motivation which
ultimately helps in achieving our ULTIMATE goal - SUCCESS.
I keep repeating and I will continue to do that as this is one of my core beliefs,
i.e. our greatest strength is our human resource - each and every one of you Our
commitment to developing deserving employees to their full potential will remain
our focal point. In order to motivate all of us management has given us an opportunity
to earn more and share the Group profitability. BOD approved HR suggestion to introduce,
for the first time in the history of the Group, the “Variable Income Scheme’ linked
to higher Group profitability and your personal performance. I am pleased to see
that 80% of you got 2 additional bonuses while 20% got 3, in line with the scheme.
HR has also recommended bonuses linked with higher Unit profitability and individual
performance in addition to the bonuses linked with Group profitability, the scheme
is under BOD study. The Management wants to reward high performance by sharing higher
profits with the higher performer.
Being an eternal optimist, despite the major upheavals and the great human tragedy
in the country specifically Swat, Malakand, NWFP including FATA and continuous disturbances
in Balochistan, I expect that tide is finally turning for our society. It may be
true that the worse is not yet over but it will be, InshaAllah. It will still take
many more years before things start to improve but the events of last couple of months augur well and we shall all look forward to better days ahead. I am really
moved by the various initiatives many of you took individually as well as collectively
for extending the support to alleviate the suffering of the IDPs.
The national economy hardly grew this year and forecast for the next year is low,
only 3.5%. But I see great opportunities for our businesses; a lot of foreign aid
will be coming in and PSDP of Rs 600 billion plus also holds many opportunities
for us. Our Special Projects team has already won a few projects and is well poised
to win more projects under aid/grant of international agencies.
I am looking forward to the next year with a renewed
commitment. I am confident
that despite the prevailing worldwide economic recession, we as a Group will come
out stronger by embracing new ways of doing business. We need to find strength through
each other by being more vibrant and innovative organization to address the opportunities
of the domestic/ regional markets, in line with our Vision 2020. The key challenges
I see
ahead are meeting the aggressive targets we have set for ourselves in the
Group Strategy session and in the recently concluded JBS strategy session. I am
confident that InshaAllah we will meet these targets.
On a more personal note, last year brought some memorable moments in my family life,
as you know my son got married. It was one of the happiest occasions for my family
and your participation enhanced this joy manifold. THANK YOU for your participation!
May God bless all of us and protect our country from the dark clouds of terrorism
and economic deprivation. (Ameen) Best wishes and good luck to you and your family
!
Sincerely,
NASSER N. S. JAFFER
CEO JBL & Group Chairman
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