KARACHI: The Service Fabrics Limited has placed plant and machinery import orders to restart its calcium carbide manufacturing plant, which had ceased operations in October 2004, partly due to the regulatory proceedings that the company failed to protect interest of the shareholders, a bourse filing said on Friday.
“To step forward, the implementation of [the] revival plan of the company (Service Fabrics Limited) after removal of legal impediments (created due to ceased operating activities since October 2004), the company has opened letter of credits (LCs) for [the] import of plant and machinery to setup of import substitute calcium carbide manufacturing plant at Hattar Economic Zone.”
The calcium carbide is a grayish-black lump or crystalline powder used to generate acetylene gas, as a reducing agent, and in steel manufacturing and metal cutting.
The Service Fabrics Limited was incorporated in Pakistan on December 1, 1987 as a public limited company under the Companies Ordinance, 1984. The shares of the company are quoted on the Pakistan Stock Exchange.
“[The] company under the provisions of subsection (1) of Section 158 of the Ordinance, was required to hold its annual general meeting (AGM) for the year ended June 30, 2005 on or before October 31, 2005. The company failed to hold the aforesaid AGM within the prescribed time,” the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) noted.
The SECP also said in its proceedings that the company was committing defaults in holding of AGMs since September 30, 2000 for which the directors were penalised earlier also.
The directors also failed to deposit the amount of most of the penalties imposed for the previous defaults.
The company was facing several issues such as the financial resources being exhausted and weak net worth position, and the SECP also filed a liquidation petition against the company.
The board of directors meeting in April this year took decisions to adopt the revival business plan for further submission to the commission and to the Lahore High Court.
In the meeting, it was also decided by the member of the board to change the name of the company from Service Fabrics Limited to the proposed name of G3 Technologies Limited to represent its revised/intended business activities, along with the increase in the company’s authorised capital from Rs160 million to Rs2.5 billion.
Hattar is a union council of Khanpur tehsil, in Haripur district. It is best known for Hattar Economic Zone, the oldest and most significant industrial estate in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
