Inept directors, sponsors bungle Bangas business

Bangas Limited and Olympic Industries Limited started their journey together in the bakery industry in 1979. At the end of FY2021, Olympic's revenue stood at over Tk1,800 crore, while Bangas' revenue was only Tk20 crore.

When asked why Bangas fell so far behind Olympic, a senior analyst of an investment bank, on condition of anonymity, said, "In the last 42 years, Olympic has developed its factories and increased production capacity responding to the changes in consumer demand and technology."

"But Bangas could not keep up with the times. The company was not able to grow due to lack of maintenance, and the short-sightedness and inefficiency of the sponsors and directors," he said.

Olympic and Bangas are both listed on the stock market. Shares of Olympic are being traded at Tk119 on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), while Bangas is trading at Tk133 per share.

In the last three financial years, Olympic has paid more than 50% cash dividend to its shareholders, while Bangas has not been able to pay even 5% regularly.

Former BNP leader and member of Parliament Md Mozammel Haque founded Bangas. He passed away in 2017. Until his death, he was the managing director of the company. His three sons are currently on the company's board of directors.

A former company official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, "Bangas was doing well until 2007. Just like Olympic, the market share of Bangas was also good at that time. After the fall of the BNP government, Mozammel Haque failed to tend to the company."

"Besides, no new investment has been made to ramp up production capacity. In the last 10 years, many skilled workers of the company have left their jobs," he said.

The official added that the company's condition declined further after the death of Mozammel Haque. The company that has always made profits, counted losses for two consecutive years.

Mozammel Haque invested in the bakery business as well as the textile sector. He founded Tallu Spinning Mill in 1985, and Mithun Knitting in 1991 at Chittagong Export Processing Zone.

With these three companies, he founded the Bangas-Tallu Group. Besides, both of these textile companies are listed on the stock market. However, they are not currently in production. Of them, Chittagong Economic Zone has confiscated Mithun Knitting's factory.

The former official said that after the death of Mozammel Haque, a conflict ensued among his three sons over the ownership of the companies. As a result, Bangas is now barely profitable, and the other two companies are also in very poor shape.

Bangas Chairman Rafiqul Haque was called several times on his cell phone to query about the status of the companies, but he did not answer.