BSEC to appoint a special auditor to review IPO fund usage of Intraco Refueling

The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) is going to appoint a special auditor at Intraco Refueling Station Limited to review the utilisation status of its initial public offering (IPO) proceeds.

The commission issued quotation letters to its panel auditors this week.

The auditor will also review the financial statements of the company for the last two years.

According to sources, the BSEC suspects anomalies in the company's IPO proceeds utilisation project.

In 2018, Intraco raised Tk30 crore through IPO and was supposed to use the fund to establish a bottling plant at Chattogram's Patenga.

But later, it purchased a newly-built liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinder manufacturing factory located at Sadar Dokkhin in Cumilla instead.

The 40,000-square-feet LPG bottle production unit with a production capacity of 2,000 LPG cylinders per day cost the firm Tk31.50 crore.

The reporter tried to contact top officials of the company for comments over the phone but it was not possible to get one.      

Industry insights

The country's LPG market is growing exponentially. According to the LPG Operators Association of Bangladesh, the annual demand for LPG is around 12 lakh tons, of which 99% are imported.

LPG cylinders are mainly imported from China but locally, Bashundhara LPG Limited, BM Energy (BD) Limited, Omera LPG Limited, TK Cylinder Limited, Petromax Cylinder Limited, G-Gas LPG Limited, Navana LPG Limited, Jamuna Spacetech Limited, Universal LPG and Cylinder Limited, Fresh LPG Limited, Delta LPG Limited, Unitex LPG Limited, and GMI LPG Limited are in the LPG business in Bangladesh.                            

Company financials

Intraco recommended 2% cash and 8% stock dividends for its shareholders in the 2020-21 fiscal year.

From July to March 2022, its revenue was Tk48.32 crore, which was Tk39.08 crore in the same period of the previous year.

During the period, its net profit was Tk4.81 crore, which was Tk4.08 crore in the same period previous fiscal.

Its earnings per share stood at Tk0.49 and net asset per share at Tk10.80 as of 31 March 2022.

As of 31 May 2022, sponsors and directors jointly held 30.66%, institutions 15.01%, and the general public 54.33% shares of the company.

The last trading share price of the company on the Dhaka Stock Exchange was Tk22.80 per share on Wednesday.