Apex Foods’ profit springs back as pandemic nearing its end

Apex Foods Limited, the country’s single largest frozen shrimp exporter, has again restored its footprint in the global markets recovering from the Covid-19 slump, as the company’s net profit jumped in recent months riding on the bulky export receipts.

In the third quarter (January-March) of the fiscal year 2021-22, the shrimp exporter’s revenue surged by 49 per cent on a year-on-year basis, while its net profit jumped by 162 per cent.

Company Secretary of Apex Foods, Kamrul Islam, told The Business Post, “Owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, our earnings sharply went down in the fiscal year 2019-20 compared to that in the previous year. In that fiscal year, the profit also went in the negative territory.”

“But our exports again returned to the pre-Covid level in recent months, putting a buoyant impact on the company’s overall income and profit in the Q3 of FY22,” he added.

According to the company’s financial statement, its total receivable export receipts in the Q3 of FY22 would stand at Tk 13.07 crore with invoice value.

The company’s total sales revenue in that quarter stood at Tk 66.01 crore, up 49 per cent from the figure of Tk 44.35 crore in the same period of the previous year.

The company incurred a net loss of Tk 2.98 crore in the fiscal year 2019-20 as its exports were severely rattled by the pandemic.

The company, however, returned to profit, gaining in the following year. 

The company’s net profit in the Q3 of the fiscal year 2020-21 jumped by 110 per cent compared to that in the same period of the previous year.

With the continuation of the upward trend, the company’s net profit soared by 162 per cent to Tk 80 lakh in the Q3 of the fiscal year 2020-21 on a year-on-year basis.

The company also posted the highest earnings per share (EPS) in the latest quarter in three years.

The earnings per share in the Q3 of the fiscal year 2020-21 stood at Tk 1.4, compared to Tk 0.53 in the same period of the previous fiscal year.

The company incurred a loss per share of Tk 5.24 in the Q3 of the fiscal year 2019-20.

The company’s late chairman Zafar Ahmed, who passed away on January 9 this year, had owned a total of 13,20,530 paper shares in the company.

As per the consent of the company’s board and the relevant court order, out of Zafar Ahmed’s total stake, 1,65,066 units of shares were transferred to his wife Shawkat Ara Ahmed and the remaining 11,55,464 units were transferred to his son Shahriar Ahmed, said a DSE filing Wednesday. 

With these shares, Shahriar Ahmed has already secured a seat on the company’s board though his mother is still not a board member. 

“Though Shawkat Ara Ahmed is still not a director, the shares she now owns are enough for her to have a place on the board,” Company Secretary Kamrul Islam said.

Listed on the stock exchange in 1981, Apex Foods owns and operates a cent per cent export-oriented modern shrimp processing plant.

The company’s short-term loan stood at Tk 90.2 crore till June 2021, while its long-term loan stood at Tk 21.6 lakh, according to its annual report.

Sponsors and directors jointly held 36.06 per cent stake in the company, while institutional investors and the general public owned 13.30 per cent and 50.64 per cent respectively till August this year.

The company’s shares were traded at Tk 207.9 each on the Dhaka Stock Exchange Wednesday.