Power Grid posts 11.62% profit growth

The publicly listed Power Grid Company of Bangladesh has posted an 11.62 percent increase in profits over a period of nine months (July 2019 to March 2020).

According to the power company's last unaudited report, its net profit rose to Tk298.21 crore in the July-March period as compared to Tk267.16 crore in the same period of the previous year.

However, in the last quarter of the current fiscal year (January 2020 to March 2020), Power Grid witnessed a 29.64-percent decrease in its net profit and the amount stood at Tk59.14 crore, down from Tk84.05 crore in the same period of 2019.

In the first nine months of 2019-20, the company's net sales increased by 9.47 percent to Tk1388.84 crore from that during the same period last year.

From July 2019 to March 2020, its earnings per share was Tk4.18, up from Tk3.75, and its net asset value (NAV) per share was Tk106.21, up from Tk85.46 in the same period of last year.

The company's income from financial activities increased by 56.35 percent while its income from other activities increased by 22.66 percent as compared to those in 2019.

Md Golam Kibria, the managing director of Power Grid, told The Business Standard, "We have been able to do good business in the first nine months of the current fiscal year."

"But due to Covid-19, the company's product (power) demand reduced more than 50 percent. We are trying to find out the exact amount of loss." 

Last year, the company's net profit was Tk383.99 crore and earnings per share was Tk8.33.

The company recommended a 20-percent cash dividend this year.

Power Grid's sponsors and directors jointly own 84.64 percent of its shares, institutional investors 12.25 percent, foreign investors 0.16 percent and general investors 2.95 percent.

The last trading price of each share of the company at the Dhaka Stock Exchange was Tk40.40.

The company was listed on both stock exchanges in 2006.