ACI revenue, profits grow

ACI Limited posted consolidated profits for the third consecutive quarter.

Thanks to its increased revenue and cost control that helped the trend of positive bottom line.

Its earnings per share (EPS) stood at Tk0.35 for the third (January-March) quarter, while the company suffered a net loss of Tk4.81 per share over the same period a year ago.

However, the quarterly EPS has significantly declined compared to that over the previous two quarters.

Over the first six months of the current fiscal year, ACI and its subsidiary companies together made EPS of Tk3.19, and that helped the company grow its EPS for the first nine months to Tk3.54, against Tk15.9 loss per share over the same period a year ago.

In the third quarter, ACI's consolidated gross profit decreased, compared to that a year ago. But a decent gross profit—the gap between revenue and cost of goods sold—over the first six months helped the company register a higher gross profit for the first three quarters.

Consolidated third quarter revenue of ACI grew to Tk1,959 crore, which is 6% higher than that over the same period of 2020, and only 2% up from that over the October-December (second) quarter.

For the first nine months the revenue stood at Tk5,697 crore, up from Tk5,186 crore over the same period a year ago.

Control over administrative, selling and other operational expenses helped the company post higher operating profits compared to that a year ago.

Also the declined interest expense added to net profits, despite the fact the company set aside more from profits this year.

Net asset value per share stood Tk125.40 at the end of last March.

The conglomerate, having more than a dozen subsidiary companies, had been suffering losses due to high interest expense on top of its aggressive investments for business expansion in diversified fields many of which were yet to yield positively at the profit and loss statements.

However, most of its businesses are in a trend of consolidating at the bottom while rate cuts helped ACI save some from interests payable.