13 listed firms return to profits in H1

Thirteen companies returned to profit in the first half of the current financial year thanks to their increased sales volume.

Of the companies, eight came from the textile sector while the remaining ones came from the food, plastic, tannery, and hospitality sectors.

The companies are Unique Hotel & Resorts, Prime Textile Spinning Mills, Deshbandhu Polymer, Shepherd Industries, Gemini Sea Food, Golden Harvest Agro Industries, Hamid Fabrics, Desh Garments, Safko Spinning Mills, Apex Tannery, Beach Hatchery, Alltex Industries, and Sonargaon Textiles Limited.

Unique Hotel and Resorts Limited, a leading hospitality management company and the owner of The Westin Dhaka, reported an EPS (earnings per share) of Tk 0.24 for the July-December period, against negative Tk 0.12 of the same period a year ago.

The hospitality and leisure industries worldwide were hit hard by the pandemic, with hotels in most nations, including Bangladesh, shutting down as a result of the lockdown imposed by their governments.

The easing travel ban and mass vaccination helped the company improve its business, it said in its financial statement.

Gemini Sea Foods bounced back with a bang and its profit surpassed the pre-pandemic level in six months of the current financial year.

The company gained a net profit of Tk 2.40 crore in the July-December period in FY22, which exceeded the FY16’s net profit. In the same period of the previous financial year, the shrimp exporter suffered a loss of Tk 3.72 crore.

AFM Nazrul Islam, Company Secretary of the company, told The Business Post that they exported the most to Canada in November and to the United States in December last year.

“Orders from these countries were closed due to the lockdown, but we always communicate with our buyers. When the pandemic eased, we received new orders in addition to the previous orders,” he said.

In July-December FY22, Gemini Sea Food’s total revenue was Tk 51.18 crore and export earnings were Tk 48.32 crore.

Alltex Industries reported an EPS of Tk 0.12 for Jul-Dec’21, against negative Tk 2.28 for the same period of the previous year.

“Company got good orders from customers and as such turnover has increased during the reporting period. Its management made all of their efforts to control the cost of goods sold. As a result EPS earnings increased,” said the company.

Hamid Fabrics reported an EPS of Tk 0.18 in the first half this year, against Tk negative Tk 0.97 in the same period a year ago.

Another four textile companies Prime Textile, Safko Spinning Mills, Shepherd Industries and Sonargaon Textiles significantly recovered their losses in the first half of the current fiscal year.

Apart from the textile companies, Deshbandhu Polymer, Golden Harvest Agro Industries, Apex Tannery, and Beach Hatchery have been successful in returning to profit during the period.

According to the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) data, more than 200 companies have so far disclosed their financial reports for the July-December period of this fiscal year.