Linde’s revenue takes downturn amid pandemic
Business closure during the shutdown slashed the company’s revenue by 57 percent in the second quarter of 2020
Industrial and medical gas producer Linde Bangladesh Limited has reported a 57 percent downfall in revenue in the second quarter (April-June) of this year as most factories were closed during the 66-day nationwide shutdown.
Usually, more than 80 percent of Linde's revenues come from industrial gas and welding electrodes. And the rest come from medical oxygen supply and sales of other healthcare services.
According to the company's unaudited financial statement, Linde reported a revenue of Tk61.14 crore during the second quarter of 2020 – down from Tk140.94 crore in the same period the previous year.
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A company official, seeking anonymity, told The Business Standard that demand for industrial oxygen, carbon dioxide and electrodes had dropped at the end of March since most business activities were on pause due to the general holidays.
Bangladesh reported its maiden Covid-19 cases on March 8 and the country went into a prolonged 66-day general holiday from March 26 to contain the spread of the virus.
The Linde official added that both demand and sales of medical oxygen surged in the second quarter as many of the coronavirus patients required oxygen as respiratory support.
Following the downfall in sales, the company's net profit also decreased by 74 percent to Tk7.29 crore in the April-June period.
Linde reported earnings per share (EPS) of Tk4.79 during the second quarter – which was Tk18.49 during the same period last year.
In the first half of this year, the total revenue of the company stood at Tk200.79 crore, which was 29 percent lower than the first half of the previous year.
During that period, the company's net profit also declined by 32 percent to Tk38.28 crore and earnings per share to Tk25.16.
At the end of the H1, the net asset value per share of the company stood at Tk357.85 crore and net operating cash flow per share was Tk13.74.
Earlier, Linde Bangladesh paid 500 percent cash dividend to its shareholders for the year ended on December 31, 2019 – the company's largest dividend payment since 2014.
The company was listed with the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) in 1976. The paid-up capital of the company is currently Tk15.21 crore.
Sponsors and directors together owned 60 percent shares of the company until February this year, while the institutional and general investors held 29.20 percent and 10.80 percent shares, respectively.
On Thursday at the DSE, the company's share price decreased by 2.67 percent to Tk1,213.50 and the closing price of Linde's shares was Tk1,239 at the end of the trading session.
