TEXT: I would like to welcome you to PSX’s Top 25 Companies Awards ceremony for the year 2022. These are the most prestigious and coveted awards in the corporate sector, which recognize and celebrate Pakistan’s corporate champions. All my admirationand congratulations to the companies that have met the stringent criteria and made the final list of awardees. They truly are leaders in all respects in Pakistan’s corporate sector.
Since 1978, PSX has been presenting these awards to identify and honour the outstanding performance of listed companies. The recipients of this prestigious accolade are companies who have met specific qualitative and quantitative criteria. This recognizes the exceptional performance of companies in corporate governance, financial performance, reporting on SDGs, diversity and increase in shareholder value, amongst other factors. These companies are not only national champions, they are comparable to the best performing companies globally.
As one of the pillars of Pakistan’s economy, PSX is committed to the growth of Pakistan and to emerge as a leading regional exchange. PSX continues to be the premier conduit for raising both equity and debt capital by companies and other issuers, including GoP. Despite the economic challenges faced by our country, I am pleased to note that the difficult decisions taken by the caretaker government has stabilised the economy and created the base for economic recovery. This is reflected in the record-breaking highs that we have seen in the KSE 100 index, which has surged this year from almost 40,000 points in January, 2023, to above 60,000 points as of November 30, 2023, recording an upsurge of around 50%.
PSX has continued to invest in state of the art infrastructure, create a balanced regulatory environment, enhance and improve its services, products and offerings in line with international best practices. As a frontline regulator, we encourageour listed companies to achieve the best in performanceas well. In this respect, we consistently revisit our selection criteria for the Top 25 Companies Awards which has evolved to include Sustainability & ESG related criteria as well. This demonstrates PSX’s commitment to Environment, Social & Governance practices. The focus on ESG more broadly will continue to increase in the future.
Making it to this prestigious and distinctive list is a significant achievement and demonstrates the caliber and strength of a company’s board, its management, strategy and execution capability. This recognition will generate great interest from investors, analysts, and portfolio managers locally and internationally. It will also help bring these companies further in the limelight of local as well as foreign media. I am sure this will be instrumental in presenting a positive image of Pakistan’s business, industry, and economy on the local and international stage.
The Top 25 Companies that have made it to this august list are indeed an asset not only for the capital market of Pakistan but also for the national economy. I wholeheartedly congratulate them once again and wish them all the success in their current and future endeavours.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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