Bashundhara Paper’s net profit falls 69% amid pandemic

Bashundhara Paper Mills Ltd is losing business amid the Covid-19 pandemic, with its net profit dropping by 69 percent in the third quarter of the 2019-20 financial year.

Company Secretary M Naseemul Hye told The Business Standard that the decline in profit was driven by slashing the sales rate as a result of lower sales volume, impact of the pandemic and decrease in production volume.

In the third quarter, the company reported net profit of Tk2.25 crore and earnings per share (EPS) of Tk0.13, which were Tk7.29 crore and Tk0.42 respectively during the same period in the previous year.

Meanwhile, in the three quarters (July-March) of the current financial year, the net profit of the company stood at Tk17.55 crore and EPS Tk1.01, which is 34 percent less than the previous year.

In the last fiscal year, the company paid a 15 percent cash dividend to its shareholders. However, directors and sponsors of the company did not take dividends.

In the accounting year 2017-18, the company provided a 20 percent cash dividend to its shareholders.

Bashundhara collected Tk200 crore in 2018 by selling each share of Bashundhara Paper at Tk80 to the eligible investors, and at Tk72 to general investors through Initial Public Offering (IPO) in book building method.

The transaction of the shares of Bashundhara Paper started in the Dhaka Stock Exchange on July 2, 2018, at Tk130 per share. The closing price of the company's share at the Dhaka Stock Exchange on Wednesday was Tk39.90.

The paid-up capital of Bashundhara Paper is currently Tk173.79 crore.

Sponsors and directors together owned 70.86 percent of the company's shares till February 2020. The institutional and general investors owned 6.53 percent and 22.61 percent respectively.