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The profit of the drug maker Beximco Pharmaceuticals Limited slightly edged up in the fiscal year 2021-22 although its earnings were expected to soar exponentially riding on the two landmark business developments it made in recent times.
Beximco Pharma for the first time as a Bangladeshi drug maker availed of the approval to produce the oral drug ‘malnupiravir’ used for the treatment of Covid-19 patients in January this year.
Besides, in April 2021, it acquired a 54.6 per cent stake in Sanofi Bangladesh for over Tk 400 crore.
Sanofi Bangladesh Limited which was later renamed Synovia Pharma PLC went into production on April 1 this year.
But these business developments could not put a strong impact on the company’s earnings as it posted Tk 516.13 in net profit in FY22 which was only 4.4 per cent higher than the profit of Tk 494.34 crore in the previous fiscal.
The profits of the drug manufacturer, however, hovered exponentially in the fiscal 2020-21 and fiscal 2019-20, riding on the sales of the Covid-19 vaccines.
The company’s earnings per share (EPS) stood at Tk 11.57 for FY22 against Tk 11.08 for the previous fiscal.
The Business Post could not reach Beximco Pharma’s Company Secretary Mohammad Asadullah over the phone for a comment.,
Commenting on the company’s business performance in the last fiscal year, Debbrata Kumar Sarkar, former chief researcher at Brac-EPL Investment Limited, told The Business Post that the company might have failed to post a hefty growth in profit in fiscal 2021-22 due to the inflated expenses owing to the price hikes in raw materials created by the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.
Its exports might have also been affected due to the ongoing global economic slowdown, hampering its profit as well, he added.
It was unlikely to post a slight profit growth despite the pharmaceutical company being permitted to manufacture the oral drug for the coronavirus patients this year, Debbrata Kumar continued.
In 2021, the company posted a staggering 45 per cent year-on-year rise in its net profit on the back of the sales of the Covid-19 vaccines.
It also posted a 16 per cent year-on-year surge in net profit in FY20.
Beximco Pharma alone contributes as much as 22 per cent to the country’s total pharma export volume, according to the company’s financial statement for the FY21.
The company recommended a 35 per cent cash dividend to its shareholders for the year ended in June 2022, as it did for FY21 as well.
The company is slated to hold its annual general meeting (AGM) on December 22 this year, and the record date has been fixed as November 21 for the share splits.
The company’s shares closed 1.01% lower to Tk156.4 per share on the trading floor of the DSE on Thursday.
The sponsors and directors own a 30.14 per cent stake in the company, while institutions held 22.26 per cent, foreign investors 28.21 per cent, and the general public 19.39 per cent till September 30 this year.
