Most listed food & allied companies' earnings dip

Earnings of most of the listed food & allied sector companies plunged in July-December, 2019 compared to the same period of the previous year.

Market analysts said many companies are counting further losses as business activities remained almost halted due to month-long lockdown caused by coronavirus pandemic.

According to market insiders, the pandemic is affecting almost all the listed companies due to the shortage of raw materials that come from external sources.

"This will hit the earnings of the companies hard in upcoming quarters," he said.

Out of the 17 food & allied companies listed on the Dhaka Stock Exchange, earnings per share of nine firms declined, six companies made modest profits while two are yet to declare earnings for the period under review, according to statistics available with the prime bourse of the country.

The EPS is the portion of a company's profit allocated to each outstanding share of common stock, meaning it is an indicator of the company's profitability.

The EPS of Gemini Sea Food turned negative during the period while Beach Hatchery, Meghna Condensed Milk, Meghna Pet Industries, Shympur Sugar Mills and Zeal Bangla Sugar Mills incurred higher losses.

According to DSE data, the EPS of Apex Foods declined to Tk 0.65 in the July-December period of 2019 against Tk 1.10 in the same period of the previous year.

The Apex Foods has reported (un-audited) profits of Tk 3.73 million during the period under review, the DSE data shows.

The Apex Foods noted that EPS was restated from Tk 0.65 to Tk 1.10 due to deferred tax on cash incentive receivable as on December 31, 2018 by Tk 25,37,000.

British American Tobacco Company reported its EPS of Tk 51.37 for the year ended on December 31, 2019 against Tk 55.62 for the same period last year.

The multinational company has also recommended 400 per cent cash dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2019.

Beach Hatchery witnessed higher losses as its EPS was Tk 0.24 in negative for July-December, 2019 as against Tk 0.18 in negative in the same period last year.

The company has reported loss of Tk 9.80 million (un-audited) in six months for July-December, 2019, the DSE data showed.

Meghna Condensed Milk also counted the higher losses as its EPS was Tk 3.99 in negative for July-December, 2019 against Tk 3.15 in negative in the same period of the previous year.

The Meghna Condensed Milk has reported loss of Tk 63.90 million in six months for July-December, 2019.

The EPS of Meghna Pet was also in the negative of Tk 0.14 for July-December, 2019 as against negative Tk 0.15 for the same period of the previous year.

The company has reported loss of Tk 1.65 million in six months for July-December, 2019.

The EPS of National Tea Company plunged to Tk 6.62 for July-December, 2019 which was Tk 27.55 in the same period of the previous year.

The company has informed that EPS was decreased due to decrease in auction price compared to last year of the same period.

The tea company made profit of Tk 43.69 million for July-December period of 2019.

Shympur Sugar Mills saw higher losses as its EPS was Tk 46.04 in negative for July-December, 2019 as against negative Tk 44.61 in the same period last year.

The state-run sugar mill has incurred a loss of Tk 230.22 million in July-December, 2019 period.

The EPS of Zeal Bangla Sugar Mills, another state-run sugar mills, was Tk 35.50 in negative for July-December, 2019 against negative of Tk 36.27 in the same period of the previous year.

The company has also reported loss of Tk 213.01 million in July-December, 2019 period.

On the other hand, EPS of six companies - AMCL (Pran), Fine Foods, Fu-Wang Food, Golden Harvest Agro Industries, Olympic Industries and Rangpur Dairy & Food Products surged year-on-year in July-December, 2019, the DSE data showed.

Bangas and Emerald Oil Industries are yet to disclose earnings for July-December, 2019.

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