Work on Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower Project  likely to be completed by Oct

LAHORE: The civil works of both, the underground powerhouse and transformers hall of the 969MW Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower Project (NJHPP) are expected to be completed in October this year, as the progress stands at 95.5 percent and 99 percent respectively.

Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) Chairman Zafar Mahmood was brief during his weekly visit to the project on Tuesday. The chairman visited the powerhouse, transformers hall, manifold area, and switchyard of the project to review the progress of the construction work.

During the on-site briefing, the chairman was apprised that Unit No 3 and 4 of the powerhouse had already been handed over to the electro-mechanical contractor after completion of the civil works. He was also informed that the civil works of the switchyard were substantially complete, while electrical and mechanical works would be completed by October 2016.

NJHPP CEO said that October 2016 was going to be an important month as tunnel-boring machine, deployed on the left tunnel would breakthrough during the said month. Overall progress on the project stands at 80 percent. The construction work on all three sites namely C1, C2 and C3 was moving ahead at a good pace. The progress on C1 stood at 78 percent, on C2 80 percent, and on C3 it was 83 percent. Out of the total 68.6 kilometre, 62kms of the tunnel has been excavated so far.

Wapda chairman expressed satisfaction over the work progress, and was confident of completing it according to the revised schedule.

As per the revised schedule, first generating unit of the project would be completed in July 2017, whereas the remaining three units would come on line by the end of 2017 in various phases.      

 

Weak markets leave Morgan Stanley struggling to reach return-on-equity target

NEW YORK: Morgan Stanley's trouble growing revenue in weak markets may prompt management to take further actions to achieve financial goals, Chief Executive James Gorman said on Monday.His comments came after the Wall Street bank released first-quarter results showing that its profit tumbled by more than half.

Trouble in fixed-income markets cut deep into Morgan Stanley's trading revenue. The business of underwriting stocks and bonds was also difficult.

Sliding commodity and oil prices, worries about the Chinese economy and uncertainty about U.S. interest rates scared off traders, investors and companies hoping to issue debt or list on stock exchanges early in the quarter.

Morgan Stanley's return-on-equity, a key measure of how well it uses shareholder capital to earn profits, was 6.2 percent, well below Gorman's goal of 9 percent to 11 percent by the end of next year.

"It must be said that if these markets were to continue as is, our goals would be extremely difficult to achieve and we would therefore take additional appropriate actions," Gorman said on a conference call with analysts.

He later added that Morgan Stanley's shareholder return was "not acceptable" and that the bank might need to get "much more aggressive" on cost cutting.

Analysts were initially bullish on Morgan Stanley's results because it beat their subdued expectations by a wide margin.

But as the call went on, Gorman and Chief Financial Officer Jon Pruzan were hammered with questions about how it will achieve its financial goals if market conditions do not improve.

Morgan Stanley shares were down 15 cents at $25.61 in midday trading.

The stock fell about 21 percent in the quarter - the sharpest decline of any big U.S. bank.

Stephen Biggar, an analyst at Argus Research, said it would be "very difficult" for Morgan Stanley to achieve the return-on-equity target Gorman has set out with revenue as weak as it was last quarter.

Morgan Stanley is not alone in struggling to grow revenue in weak markets, though its profit problems are more severe than rivals that are larger and can lean on other businesses to buoy results.

Last week, JPMorgan Chase & Co reported a 7 percent decline in quarterly profit, while Bank of America Corp reported an 18 percent drop and Citigroup Inc's earnings fell 27 percent.

The declines were attributed in part to trading difficulties. Morgan Stanley's most comparable rival, Goldman Sachs Group Inc, will report results on Tuesday.

Morgan Stanley and its peers have increasingly focused on expenses to make up for weak revenue.

The bank said in January it was looking to save up to $1 billion by 2017 through technology and moving jobs to less expensive locations. Overall, it cut expenses by 14 percent during the first quarter.

In an interview, Pruzan told Reuters most of the cost-cutting last quarter came from "tightening up discretionary spending." More cuts are on the way, but it will take time for them to be reflected in earnings, he said.

The bank also plans to move more back-office staff to low-cost locations.

About 40 percent of Morgan Stanley's back-office employees currently sit in lower-cost locations.

Pruzan said the bank would like to increase this to 50 to 55 percent.

"There are areas that are starting to take shape but we'll see the actual savings from those towards the end of the year and next year."

Overall, Morgan Stanley's earnings applicable to common shareholders fell 54.4 percent to $1.06 billion, or 55 cents per share, from a year earlier, when the bank reported its most profitable quarter since the financial crisis.

Analysts on average had expected earnings of 46 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.Net revenue fell 21.3 percent to $7.79 billion, missing the average estimate of $7.87 billion.

The bank's adjusted revenue from fixed income and commodities trading slid 54.1 percent in the quarter. Equities trading revenue fell 9.3 percent.

Morgan Stanley has been shifting its focus away from more volatile areas of trading and toward more stable and less capital-intensive businesses, like wealth management.

Wealth management revenue fell 4.3 percent to $3.67 billion during the quarter, but this accounted for 47 percent of net revenue compared with 39 percent in the same period of 2015.

Investment banking revenue, which includes fees from mergers and income from equity and debt underwriting, fell 18.4 percent to $1.11 billion.

Industry-wide, investment banking fees fell 29 percent in the period, the worst first-quarter since 2009, according to Thomson Reuters data.

However, there were some signs of hope. Gorman said there has lately been a "slightly better turn in markets," that its M&A pipeline is strong and there are some "green shoots" in the equity underwriting calendar.