Dandy dyeing is dying with BNP’s setbacks

Infograph: TBS

Dandy Dyeing Limited – a textile business belonging to the family of former prime minister Khaleda Zia – has been dying ever since her party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), has suffered serious setbacks for years.

Listed on the stock market in 1995, the company, weaving, dyeing, and printing gray cloth, did decent business when BNP was in power.  

But neither its shareholders nor the stock exchanges are aware of its current status.

The company was hibernating on the over-the-counter (OTC) board of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) since the early 2010s.

The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC), campaigning to bring back on track, derailed, left behind publicly listed firms, now wants to know about the status of the company.

Last year, when the BSEC abolished the OTC boards of both the DSE and Chittagong Stock Exchange and sent the OTC firms either to the SME platform or the alternative trading board (ATB), or brought them back to the mainboard, Dandy Dyeing automatically went to the ATB as the company had submitted no plan.

The BSEC has instructed the DSE to inspect the offices and facilities of Dandy Dyeing and prepare a report on its business and financial status.

The stock exchange will file a report with the commission in the next 20 days.

The commission also wants to know the company's management plans  regarding its fate.

The rise and fall

Dandy Dyeing Ltd was incorporated in May 1993, when BNP was governing the country.

BNP Chairperson and former prime minister Khaleda Zia's late brother, Major (retd) Sayeed Eskander, his wife Nasrin Rahman, Khaleda Zia's son and BNP's fugitive acting chairman, Tarique Rahman, his late brother Arafat Rahman, and friend Giasuddin Al Mamun, now in jail, were the major shareholders and directors of the company, according to its 2010 annual report.

The successful business raised Tk3.10 crore from the capital markets in 1995, issuing primary shares at a face value of Tk100.

TV commercials of Dandy Dyeing's fashionable traditional women's wear, up to the mid-2000s, made the brand very popular.

By the end of the 2000s, the company turned into a losing venture, when its directors' lives got disrupted in the following years when the BNP government's tenure ended in late 2006.

No directors have been in a position to attend board meetings since then due to imprisonment, self-exile, or death.

Dandy Dyeing shares turned into mere pieces of paper with no business updates on the stock exchange website and no trading of shares.

Devastated financials and loan defaults

According to its 2010 financial statement, the company sustained accumulated losses of Tk14.88 crore as of December 2010, while its net liabilities stood at Tk6.62 crore.

Non-servicing of bank loans lead to further barriers to its resuming operations.

Up to 2010, the textile company disclosed Tk23.05 crore in aggregate long-term loans, while total short-term loans were stated to be Tk4.93 crore.

In that year, it managed to earn Tk5.5 crore in sales, but its gross loss was Tk2.26 crore.

The paid-up capital of the company was Tk6.20 crore, and the authorised capital was Tk50 crore.

During the period, the loss stood at Tk56.67 against each share having a face value of Tk100.

Sponsors and directors jointly hold 50%, institutions 25.82%, and the public, 24.18% shares of the company.

At last trading, the company's shares were Tk5.8 a share.

On 2 October 2013, Sonali Bank filed a case against the board of directors for the company's loan default.

Tarique Rahman, Arafat Rahman, and 10 others were named as defendants in the case.

The company took a loan of Tk15.64 crore, but interest  dues over the years shot its liabilities up to Tk45.59 crore by October 2013.