Sea Pearl Beach Resort to foray into new business era

Sea Pearl Beach Resort & Spa, a five-star hotel in Cox’s Bazar, is looking to enter the passengers cruise ship tour package business by next month.

Initially, the company will purchase two cruise ships with an estimated cost of Tk8.5 crore and is expected to get a return of Tk7.15 crore annually from the new business, said the company in a filing with the Dhaka Stock Exchange on Thursday.

“The new business will start this October,” said the company operated through a franchise agreement between Sea Pearl and GT Investments BV, Netherlands, an investment bank.

The passengers cruise ship will run no Khulan-Sundarban-Khula route.

On Thursday, the travel and leisure sector came to the spotlight led by the company soaring more than 5 percent to over Tk 45.12 on the DSE.

Over the one year, the price movement of the company was hovering between Tk39.5 to Tk79.10.

“There are many local small companies operating tour package programme on the route. We see the opportunity of the tour business utilising our brand value and quality service,” said an official.

The company targets both local and foreign tourists. But we’re focusing on foreign tourists having an interest in the world’s largest mangrove ecosystem as four protected areas in the Sundarbans are enlisted as UNESCO World Heritage Sites, according to him.

The five-star hotel was hit hardest by the Covid-19 pandemic as it suffered a loss of Tk1.10 crore in the fiscal FY20, according to the DSE.

But in FY21, it returned to back and made a profit of Tk7.36 crore. Its operating revenue increased by 40 per cent to Tk64.39 crore in the last fiscal year compared to a year earlier.

The paid-up capital of the company is Tk120.75 crore and market capitalisation Tk519 crore.

Listed in 2019, the company has Tk70 lakh in reserve. It paid 1 per cent cash dividend to its shareholders in FY20.

The sponsor-director holds 46.83 per cent, institutional investors 27.07 per cent and public 26.10 per cent as of August 2021.

According to the company’s website, Sea Pearl Beach Resort & Spa limited located at Inani beach in Cox’s Bazar started its commercial operation on September 17, 2015.

The 10-storied hotel building built on 15 acres of land has a total area of 4.5 lakh square feet.-