Patel: More business ops here

PAPUA New Guinea is a country that still has a lot to offer in terms of investments and other business opportunities.Speaking at last month’s inaugural Pacific investment summit in Australia, City Pharmacy Ltd (CPL) Group PNG chairman Mahesh Patel said CPL group is committed to further investments through housing projects, cinema complexes, hardware business and various retail formats as the opportunity and demand for these were very high.Patel said the CPL group has so far set up City Pharmacy outlets in all Stop N Shop supermarkets in Port Moresby and other big supermarkets in the country and had also ventured into the building sector with their Hardware Haus.He said also they had signed joint ventures and affiliated themselves to other companies who have an interest in working in the country.He said to date, most investments had been limited to super funds, with Nasfund being the single largest investor in their group, and there were ample opportunities for various investment vehicles to do so.“There are opportunities for financial investors and businesses alike either in joint ventures, franchises, partnerships, supply lines or just business facilitation,” Patel said.He said with every challenge comes an opportunity which the CPL Group has capitalised on in terms of providing social, sporting and community services that have given their business the drive to work harder and earn double digit revenues year after year.CPL Group boasts a staff number of almost 2,000 (98% of whom are PNG citizens) and a group turnover in access of K300 million.The company was listed in the Port Moresby Stock Exchange in 2002 at a par value of K1 per share.Following a 3 to 1 share split in 2007, the shares currently trade at K2.95.