Fu-Wang Foods, a publicly traded bread, and confectionary food producer, has been implementing various product diversification plans to reinforce its financial stability.
To this end, it has already set up a research centre, where research is being conducted on innovations to attract new start-up grocery businesses as well as consumers.
The listed company had faced severe financial turmoil in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year 2021-22 which led it to incur a massive annual loss of Tk 25.07 crore though in the fiscal’s first three quarters it had a net profit of TK 1.21 crore.
It had incurred a loss of Tk 23.86 crore in the final quarter of that fiscal, according to data available on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE).
Following that setback, the food maker had reshuffled its board of directors that let it reap benefits as the company managed to secure profits in the first three quarters of the just concluded fiscal year 2022-23.
During the turmoil, some of its managers also left the company, but it could handle the matter by appointing fresh executives.
In January this year, the company announced the start of a new clothing business, but it did not generate the expected revenue, officials familiar with the matter said.
Currently, the food producer has been working on how to turn its seasonal puffed rice business into an all-season business.
The company, in the first three quarters, reported earnings per share (EPS) of Tk 0.17, while its profit was Tk 1.88 crore. Now, they aim to close the fiscal year 2022-23 with profit, company officials said.
Sharif Al Mahmood, company secretary at Fu-Wang Foods acknowledged that they did not face much volatility in the last quarter of FY23 what they had witnessed in the same quarter of the year before.
“In the late FY22, our business operations had severely been hampered due to various complications on the company’s board. But the situation has currently been normal. Besides, initiatives are underway to diversify products. So, we are expecting to return to profit at the end of the just concluded fiscal 2022-23,” he added.
“Many employees had left us in time of the company’s turmoil. Steps were taken to continue production at full speed by hiring new workers for the vacant positions. Hopefully, there will be no loss in FY23.”
Fu-Wang Foods produces bread, biscuits, noodles, snacks, mini-snacks, chocolates, energy drinks, and some other food items.
The company also announced in January 2023 to set up a puffed rice production line.
As per the decision, the company has already installed a production line at its existing factory premises in Gazipur to produce puffed rice under the brand name– Fuwang Muri.
According to its financial report, the food maker logged revenue of Tk 30.06 crore in Q3 of the fiscal 2022-23, which was Tk 32.61 crore in the same quarter of the previous year.
The company posted a net profit of Tk 0.30 crore in the third quarter of FY23 against the profit of Tk 0.23 crore in the same period one year ago.
The company made its highest third quarterly profit of Tk 3.03 crore in FY19.
In February 2022, Minori Bangladesh, a subsidiary of the Japanese farming company Minori Co Ltd, entered the board of Fu-Wang Foods by acquiring a 7.61 per cent sponsor-director stake in the food and allied-sector company.
According to sources familiar with the matter, the acquisition cost Minori Tk 10 crore. Of the amount, Fu-Wang’s former directors received Tk 4 crore, and the remaining Tk 6 crore was invested in the company to deal with the financial anomalies regarding its inter-party transaction with its subsidiary.
Additionally, Minori also announced its wish to inject a fresh investment of Tk 20 crore to run Fu-Wang Foods.
Founded in 1997, Fu-Wang Foods Limited was fully owned by foreign investors who wanted to do business in the food processing industry in Bangladesh.
In 2000, it was listed on the stock exchanges. But, the foreign investors sold the company to local investors later.
