Universal seek de-listing

Universal Leather and Footwear Industries have applied for voluntary de-listing from the Karachi Stock Exchange. The company claim that the current provision of income tax law for taking the reserves in excess of 50% of the paid-up capital of a public company, unless at least 40% of the annual profit is distributed as a cash dividend, has become a bottleneck for the company's future plans. The sponsors/directors of the company have decided to buy back the shares at the rate of Rs50 per share. The management have decided to convert the operations of all group companies into interest-free financing. In line with this decision, one of Universal's associated companies have repaid their loans, and other companies are also being converted into interest-free companies. The company's turnover was recorded at Rs1.246 billion in 1999-2000, compared with Rs978 million the previous year, showing an increase of 27.45%.