Home ›› 13 Dec 2022 ›› Stock
Index Agro Industries Limited, a publicly traded company, has decided to raise its raw materials storage capacity to ensure the uninterrupted production of quality agro feeds.
To this end, the company will be investing Tk 14 crore to expand the existing storage facility, enabling it to store additional 16,000 tonnes of unfinished goods.
As part of the plan, the listed company would install two silos with a storage capacity of 8,000 metric tonnes each in Valuka of Mymensingh, according to a filing posted on the website of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) Monday.
To implement the expansion plan, it would spend an estimated amount of Tk 14 crore, according to the DSE filing.
Index Agro’s Company Secretary Abu Jafar Ali said in terms of the ongoing global market situation, the prices of the raw materials were going up exponentially. Besides, the availability of quality materials could not be ensured all the time, the reason the company management planned to raise their storage facility to tackle such an unwanted situation.
Currently, the company has a storage capacity of 26,000 tonnes of raw materials. Once the fresh two silos are installed, the capacity would rise to 42,000 tonnes.
“Due to the unavailability of quality raw materials, we previously had to sell finished goods at lower prices. We are now expanding our storage capacity which would help us store quality materials in time of their availability,” stated Abu Jafar Ali.
This would be the company’s first investment decision since its listing on the stock exchange in 2021.
The company posted a 23 per cent year-on-year slump in net profit in the first quarter (July-September) of the current fiscal year (2022–23).
The listed firm posted a net profit of Tk 5.58 crore in the July-September period of FY23, against Tk 7.21 crore in the same period last fiscal.
Its earnings per share (EPS) stood at Tk 1.18 for Q1 of the current fiscal year against Tk 1.53 for the July–September period of the last fiscal year.
The company said its earnings went down in the latest quarter due to its inflated production cost, influenced by the growing raw materials prices in the global market.
Its net asset value (NAV) per share stood at Tk 64.11 till September 2022 against Tk 62.93 till June this year.
Incorporated in September 2000, Index Agro Industries Limited commenced its commercial operation in July 2004.
It has an associate firm – X-Ceramics Ltd – which is involved in manufacturing ceramic tiles.
The company made a net profit of Tk 0.49 crore from the associate firm in the first quarter of FY23 versus Tk 0.47 crore in profit in the same period last fiscal.
Index Agro is a manufacturer and marketer of poultry and fish feeds, while it also produces day-old chicks.
The company raised Tk 50 crore from the stock market in the book-building method through an initial public offering (IPO) in 2021.
Its shares remained stuck at the floor price of Tk 103.6 per share at the DSE trading floor since the first trading session of this month.
With an authorised capital of Tk 100 crore, the agro producer has a paid-up capital base of Tk 47.2 crore.
Sponsor-directors own a 57.77 per cent stake in the company, while institutional investors hold 19.78 per cent, and the general public represents 22.45 per cent till November 2022.
The board of directors of the company recommended a 10 per cent cash dividend to its shareholders for the year ending June 2022.
