With ease of pandemic, JMI Syringes sees downfall in business

JMI Syringes and Medical Devices Limited, a precision safety syringes and medical devices maker, had taken a decision in late 2021 to invest Tk 5 crore to raise its auto-disable (AD) syringe production capacity.

But the listed company could not still implement the project although company officials claimed the project development was still underway.

A company official wishing to remain unnamed said the company’s business is no longer in a thriving state as it was during the Covid-19 period; so, the progress of the project taken remained very slow.

In December 2021, the company said it had decided to invest over Tk 5 crore to increase its auto-disable (AD) syringe production capacity by one-third, as the demand for that medical equipment surged at home and abroad due to the Covid-19 vaccination programmes.

At that time, the company said after implementation of the expansion project, its annual production capacity of only 0.5-mL auto-disable (AD) syringes would increase by approximately 33 per cent.

Commenting on the issue, Tarek Hossain Khan, company secretary of JMI Syringes, told The Business Post that the booming business that had been during the pandemic period, is no longer in place in the current time.

“Several machines have been purchased under the project, and the some others are on their way.”

But Tarek Hossain could not give any exact idea about when the production of the new project would start.

Besides, the company’s earnings per share decreased in FY22 due to an increase in its paid-up capital.

The medical device maker reported a 7 per cent year-on-year decline in its revenue in the first six months of FY23, while its net profit fell by 54 per cent year-on-year.

JMI Syringes and Medical Devices gave a 36 per cent stock dividend for the year ended June 30, 2022 through which its paid-up capital increased from Tk 22.1 crore to Tk 30.05 crore.

The company’s earnings per share (EPS) stood at Tk 0.97 for the July-December period of FY23 against Tk 2.13 for the same period last fiscal.

As per the DSE data, the company’s short-term loan stood at Tk 21.69 crore as on June 30, 2022, with a long-term loan of Tk 13 lakh.

Sponsors and directors held a 79.65 per cent stake in the company, while institutional investors and the general public owned 3.11 per cent and 17.24 per cent respectively till February 2023.

The company’s share prices remained unchanged at Tk 255.5 on the DSE trading floor on Monday.