Home ›› 02 Dec 2022 ›› Stock
The first quarterly profit of Confidence Cement Limited, a publicly traded company, plunged to a four-year low in July-September of the fiscal year 2022–23.
The cement maker’s revenue also plummeted by 27 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter of FY23 due to its failure to meet the sales targets.
The company blamed the skyrocketing raw materials prices in the global market behind the sharp fall in earnings as well as revenue, according to a filing posted on the website of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE).
The company’s earnings per share (EPS) stood at Tk 1.68 in July-September period of the fiscal year 2022–23 from Tk 2.31 in the same period of last fiscal.
It had a first quarterly EPS of Tk 3.39 in the fiscal year 2020–21 which was Tk 2.51 in the previous fiscal.
Delowar Hossain, company secretary at Confidence Cement Limited told The Business Post that they were facing hardships like many others due to the turbulence in raw materials prices in the global market, created by the Russia-Ukraine war.
There are few power plants under the Confidence Power Holdings Limited, a subsidiary of Confidence Cement.
The fuel oil price hikes reached the peak in recent months due to the war. Though price fell slightly now it has not been stabilised yet, he added.
Delowar Hossain, however, said the earnings of the power plants were not reflected on the cement maker’s cashbooks.
But the power business contributed much to the company’s earnings in the first quarter of the fiscal year 2021–22.
According to the Bangladesh Cement Manufacturers Association (BCMA) data, the prices of clinker, the key raw material of cement, jumped manifold since the Russia-Ukraine war began.
Bangladesh is heavily reliant on imports to source this essential element for the manufacturing of cement.
The company’s consolidated net operating cash flow per share (NOCFPS) stood at negative Tk 2.5 for July-September of FY23 against negative Tk 3.72 for July-September of FY22.
Its consolidated net asset value (NAV) per share reached Tk 73.95 as on September 2022 which was Tk 72.24 as on June same year. Incorporated in 1991, the cement maker went into commercial operation in 1994.
Currently, the company has an annual production capacity of 12 lakh tonnes of cement.
The company got listed on both stock exchanges in 1995 and had been giving handsome dividends to shareholders every year.
The board of directors of the company recommended 5 per cent cash and 5 per cent stock dividends to its shareholders for FY22.
Its share price has been stuck at the floor price of Tk 93.5 since September at the premier bourse.
