Chenab Group


Chenab Group is a Pakistani conglomerate based in Faisalabad, Pakistan. It is one of the largest exporters of home textile products from Pakistan. It was set up in 1974 as Chenab Fabrics & Processing Mills Limited and later converted to Chenab Limited. It was founded by Mian Muhammad Latif and his father Haji Muhammad Saleem who was a cotton industrialist in Toba Tek Singh District.

History

Mian Muhammad Latif, the group's chairman, laid the foundation by setting up a processing unit in Faisalabad, later joined by his younger brothers Mian Muhammad Naeem and Mian Javed Iqbal. Chenab Group soon started exporting its products worldwide and by the 1990s, it started exporting to 35 countries worldwide. Chenab is a vertically integrated unit with having complete operation range from ginning to retailing. The Group's textile mills division was listed on Karachi Stock Exchange in 2004. The Group's downfall began in 2007-8 when it sustained 4 billion Pakistani Rupees in losses. As per last annual report, it has negative equity of Pakistani Rupees 4.7 billion and the auditors state, "in our opinion, because of the significance of the matters discussed...the balance sheet, profit and loss account, statement of comprehensive income, cash flow statement and statement of changes in equity together with the notes forming part thereof, do not conform with approved accounting standards as applicable in Pakistan and do not give the information required by the Companies Ordinance 1984 in a manner so required and do not give a true and fair view of the state of the Companies affairs...". The last annual report also confirms that the company is in violation of the Pakistani Code of Corporate Governance, has no independent directors on its board. Its 2013 Annual report includes a statement from the company auditors that the company violates the Pakistan Code of Corporate Governance as none of the directors had attended a directors training course.

Equipment

Chenab's textile unit used to process and convert more than 70 million meters of fabric every years into made-ups and garment products. Chenab is capable of producing multiple products. Chenab has 19,200 spindles at its spinning unit with in-house space of. Chenab's weaving unit is equipped with 250 airjet looms and 380 auto-looms. Chenab's processing unit is the largest in the country with a complete processing range from dying to finishing. Chenab is also equipped with a stitching unit for ready-made garments. However current utilization of the units is now at 25% of their capacity. To make itself more independent in generating power supply for its own units, Chenab Group has set up a 12.6 mega-watt natural-gas-based power generation facility with heat exchangers and boilers for its operations.

Associated companies

Chenab Group introduced concept of ChenOne Stores in Pakistan and Middle East. ChenOne is Pakistan's first home textile brand having a total of 29 branches in Pakistan and abroad. Chenab Group also owns or manages several other companies such as CGI Limited UAE, InterFab in Australia, Chenab Fibres Ltd, ChenSoft, Chenab United States, ChenOne Worldwide, House of Chenab and ChenOne Foundation. Some of these associate companies along with the owners have been implicated by the Pakistani Securities and Exchange Commission in insider trading/market manipulation of Chenab Shares. Criminal prosecution of Chenab owners and companies is ongoing due to their alleged role in the matter