After bracing for losses in the previous three years, bKash Limited, the country’s top mobile financial services (MFS) provider, returned to profit in the year 2022.
The subsidiary of Brac Bank posted Tk 17.21 crore in net profit last year, against a hefty loss of Tk 123 crore in the previous year, according to the company’s financial statements.
The leading MFS provider had been suffering consistent losses since 2019 with a loss of Tk 67 crore in 2020, and Tk 62.51 crore in 2019.
The company’s cashbooks remained negative in those years due to its continued investments in infrastructural development and capacity-building for cementing its lead in the country’s mobile financial services industry.
Shamsuddin Haider Dalim, head of corporate communications of bKash, told The Business Post, “We have started to reap benefits from our conscious and strategic investments that we made in recent years.”
“Tech-based firms have to invest a lot in technology upgradations and product diversifications, and Bkash has done so. The benefits of those investments are now apparent for us.”
“We are optimistic to get more returns in the coming years our client base is increasingly growing up,” Shamsuddin continued.
Meanwhile, the company’s revenue soared by 22.77 per cent to Tk 3,430 crore in 2022, compared with Tk 2,794 crore in the previous year.
The company’s e-money circulation had surged by 24.53 per cent to Tk 5,853 crore in 2021.
Brac Bank formed bKash Limited on March 1, 2010.
Brac Bank currently holds a 51 per cent equity shares in the company.
With the consent of all existing shareholders, in 2014 Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (B&M), in 2018 Alipay Singapore E-Commerce Private Limited (Alipay), and in 2021 SoftBank, had invested in bKash Limited in the form of convertible preference shares.
As on December 2021, out of the total 163,104 convertible preference shares, B&M owned 22,525 shares, Alipay 55,433 shares, and SoftBank 85,146 shares.
Over the years, bKash has built a robust network of nearly 300,000 agents and 300,000 merchants across the country. It also gets integrated with banks, financial institutions and service providers to strengthen the cashless digital financial ecosystem of the country.
As a result, bKash has now a large customer base of nearly 6.5 crore.
BRAC Bank’s financial status:
The net profit of Brac Bank – bKash’s parent company – jumped by 10.14 per cent to Tk 601.63 crore in 2022.
The publicly traded bank had made a profit of Tk 546.25 crore in 2021.
The bank reported consolidated earnings per share (EPS) of Tk 4.02 for 2022 compared to Tk 3.65 for 2021.
Its consolidated net asset value (NAV) per share rose to Tk 40.86 in the last calendar year from Tk 38.21 in the previous year, while its consolidated net operating cash flow per share surged to Tk 25.14 in 2022 from Tk 2.49 in 2021.
The board of directors of Brac Bank recommended for its shareholders 7.50 per cent cash and a 7.50 per cent stock dividend for the year that ended on December 31 2022, as per a Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) filing on Wednesday.
The bank said the bonus shares are not declared from capital reserve or revaluation reserve or any unrealised gain or out of profit earned prior to incorporation of the company or through reducing paid-up capital or through doing anything so that the post-dividend retained earnings become negative or a debit balance.
The bank further informed its authorised capital would be increased from Tk 2000 crore to Tk 5000 crore as well as amendments to Clause 6 of the Memorandum of Association and Clause 4 of the Articles of Association of the company, subject to the approval of shareholders and regulatory bodies.
