Eastern Housing sees 77% drop in flat sales

Flat sales of Eastern Housing Ltd have been declining continuously due to the coronavirus impact and the downward trend in the real estate sector, with the company reporting around 77% drop in the first quarter of the current financial year.

The figure was obtained from an unaudited financial statement of the company released on Wednesday.

In the post-lockdown period (July-September), the company earned revenues of only Tk9.78 crore from flat sales, which was Tk42.93 crore during the same period in the previous year.

Besides, the leading real estate company earned the highest revenue, Tk23.72 crore, from developing and selling lands.

An official of the company said, "Ready flat business has been in a recession for a couple of years. The overall situation has become worse due to the coronavirus pandemic."

According to the latest data by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), the real estate sector achieved the highest growth of 16.81% in the 2016-17 fiscal year.

The real estate sector that is currently enjoying investments of untaxed money only for buying apartments will see the benefit extended to the purchase and development of lands.

People have to pay different amounts of taxes ranging from Tk500 to Tk20,000 per square metre depending on the locations of the purchased lands, but such opportunities have not brought the expected results so far.

Meanwhile, in the first quarter, the revenue of Eastern Housing fell by 50% to Tk33.50 crore. During that period, earnings per share also dropped by 32% to Tk0.86.

Eastern Housing has paid a 15% cash dividend to its shareholders for the 2019-20 financial year, which was the lowest in the last five years.

According to information released by the company, it reported earnings per share of Tk3.12 in the last financial year. The company's earnings per share dropped by 16% compared to the previous year.

In the fourth quarter (April-June) of the last financial year, its earnings per share dropped by 59% due to the pandemic.

Listed on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) in 1994, the current paid-up capital of the company is Tk93.34 crore.

Sponsors and directors together owned 50.09% of shares of the company till September 2020 while institutional and general investors owned 30.92% and 18.99% respectively.

The closing price of the company's each share was Tk40 on Wednesday at the DSE. The shares hit the highest price of Tk50.60 each last year.