The auditor – on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) web portal – has raised questions regarding a gap in ACME Pesticides tax information for FY21 and FY22. This is a newly listed company in the pharmaceuticals and chemicals sector.
Though the company showed that their payable tax for assessment years 2019 and 2020 is Tk 10 crore, it is not clear to the auditor that why the company had mentioned this information in the report for FY23.
ACME Pesticides is yet to provide any clarifications in this regard, said the auditor in its Qualified Opinion.
A Qualified Opinion is a statement issued after an audit is completed by a professional auditor, suggesting that the financial information provided is limited in scope or that the company has not maintained generally accepted accounting principles.
The Auditor has drawn attention to note no 16 "Provision for Income Tax" amount Tk 10.64 crore in the Financial Statements until 30 June, 2023, which was unsettled/un-assessed from long since, but the company management did not give any disclosure regarding present status of unsettled/un-assessed Provision for Income Tax.
Moreover, the auditor says that the company did not provide any return of Withholding Tax, Information regarding payment of salary and Information regarding filing of return by employees as per Income Tax Ordinance - 1984 (Under section-75A,108 and 108A).
So, the auditor could not verify the correctness of payment of salary and expenses related to TDS & VDS.
The Business Post attempted to reach out to Company Secretary Ariful Alam on phone for comments on the matter, but he could not be reached till the filing of this report. The company's profits at the end of last FY23 stood at Tk 12.93 crore.
ACME Pesticides has reported EPS of Tk 0.96, NAV per share of Tk 18.35 and NOCFPS of Tk 0.52 for the year ended June 30, 2023, against Tk 1.51, Tk 17.99 and Tk 1.47 respectively for the year ending on June 30, 2022.
The company reported net profit after tax for the ended June 30, 2021 around Tk 22.21 crore and basic earnings per share (EPS) Tk 2.12, against profit after tax of Tk 19.47 crore and basic EPS of Tk 2 for the FY20, said the company in a filing with the DSE recently.
ACME Pesticides Ltd, a subsidiary of Sinha Group, raised Tk 30 crore from the capital market by issuing 3 crore shares to general investors at a face value of Tk 10 each.
According to its IPO declaration, ACME Pesticides will spend 33.8 per cent of the entire proceeds to construct factory building and some other establishments while 35 per cent will be used to acquire new plant and purchase machinery, 18.3 per cent for repaying bank loans, 6.7 per cent for electrical installation, and 6.2 per cent for IPO expenses.
Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) approved the IPO proposal of ACME Pesticides on July 19, 2021.
ACME Pesticides is engaged in manufacturing and marketing of Agro products in the categories of fertiliser, insecticides, pesticides and certified seeds, household toiletries and other consumer products.
The company started commercial operation in 2010. ACME Laboratories Ltd, which got listed on the capital market in 2016, is also another subsidiary of the Group.
ACME Pesticides' stock price experienced a notable drop of 4.02 percent to close at Tk21.50 at the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) on Sunday, compared to the previous day.
