Home ›› 23 Feb 2023 ›› Stock
Cement maker Aramit Cement Ltd posted a net loss of Tk 26 in the July-December period of the current fiscal year, thanks to soaring import costs and fluctuations in foreign currency exchanges.
With this figure, the listed company’s first half-yearly loss intensified by 87 per cent from the loss of Tk 13.9 crore in the July-December half of FY22, according to a filing posted on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) website Wednesday.
The company has cited the limitation in LC opening, the dollar crisis, and soaring import costs which collectively wiped out its earnings in the first six months of FY23.
Meanwhile, the cement maker’s revenue declined by 82 per cent to Tk 6.8 crore in H1 of the current fiscal year than the revenue of Tk 39.87 crore in the July-December half of FY22.
Of them, it generated only Tk 1.8 crore in revenue in the October-December quarter of FY23, down from Tk 10 crore in Q2 of FY22.
Owing to a sharp fall in revenue, the company’s earnings per share also fell significantly in the first half of the current fiscal on a year on year basis. The cement maker’s loss per share grew to Tk 7.69 for July-December of FY23 from a loss per share of Tk 4.11 for the July-December of FY22.
Syed Kamruzzaman, company secretary of Aramit Cement told The Business Post that they suffered a lot during the July-December half due to the dollar crisis and staggering rise in import costs.
“We were unable to obtain a letter of credit (LC) due to the dollar crisis which led to a halt in raw materials imports, ultimately hampering the production,” he added.
The company during that period had to bear the basic operating costs without any revenue. Additionally, due to the surge in dollar prices, international payments became more costly, putting a further strain on its finances, according to Kamruzzaman.
Kamruzzaman, however, gave reassurance saying that despite several challenges, the company was currently in full production with necessary raw materials already arrived at its factories. With an operational premise at Kalurghat Heavy Industrial Estate, Chittagong,
Besides meeting the local demand, the company also exports cement to two Indian states— Tripura and Meghalaya. It purchases its raw materials from reputable suppliers in Iran, Thailand, China, Japan, Indonesia, and Vietnam.
