Company
Though FIM began trading on the Karachi Stock Exchange in 1994,the story of Imrooz itself is many decades old.
‘Imrooz’ is a Persian word, which means ‘today’ or ‘renewed every day.’ This has been the guiding principle of the Ashraf Riaz Family (ARF) business philosophy.
The journey of Imrooz started in 1949 by its founder Mr. Ashraf Riaz as a small company, shipping goods between, what was then, East and West Pakistan.
By 1961, Imrooz acquired ownership of the Pakistani operations of G. Atherton & Co. (a 100-year-old Liverpool based company) and formed a new entity called Atherton Imrooz Company, specializing in representing quality foreign manufacturers. However, the journey did not stop there. Imrooz added yet another feather to its cap by entering into a joint partnership with Horlicks UK and set up Pakistan’s first milk food manufacturing factory in 1967.
The creation of Bangladesh in 1971 required business consolidation. The company eventually moved its businesses to Pakistan and in 1972 set up an industrial chemical distribution business, catering to the needs of larger industries in Pakistan.
The demise of the group’s founding father Mr Ashraf Riaz, in 1974, posed many challenges to the growing business and required careful strategic planning. His two elder sons took the reins of the business and successfully led it into the next decade.
The 1980s saw significant changes at Imrooz. The group expanded into IT and engineering sectors through joint ventures. The milk business was spun off under a separate management structure, but remained within the extended business family.
The 1990s were very favorable for Imrooz. In 1994, Imrooz entered the music industry by buying a controlling share of EMI (Pakistan) Ltd, the oldest and the largest music company in the country. The same year, First ImroozModaraba was floated on the Karachi Stock Exchange and it successfully took over a significant portion of the Industrial Raw Material market.