Acme’s sales grow amid pandemic
The drug maker reported sales of Tk476.82 crore – which is an increase from Tk407.23 crore in the same period of the previous year
Acme Laboratories Ltd, a leading drug manufacturer in Bangladesh, has reported 17 percent growth in its medicine sales in the third quarter of the 2019-20 financial year.
Officials at the company said the novel coronavirus spread around the world during the January-March period, and the fear that under its impact everything might be closed here led people to buy medicines for use in emergencies.
According to its third quarter unaudited financial statement – which was disclosed on Saturday evening – the company reported medicine sales of Tk476.82 crore – up from Tk407.23 crore in the same period of the previous year.
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Despite that, the company's net profit dropped by 4 percent compared to the third quarter of the previous year, and it stood at Tk35.44 crore.
Its earnings per share was Tk1.68 in the third quarter of 2019-20 – which was Tk1.74 during the same time of the last financial year.
The company officials said its long-term debt increased by 22 percent in the current financial year. This has pushed up the interest cost of the loans. Besides, profits have declined due to an increase in other costs.
Meanwhile, in the three quarters of the current financial year, the total sales of the company stood at Tk1,389.5 crore, which is 15 percent higher than that of the previous year. At that time, the net profit was Tk112.95 crore and earnings per share Tk5.34.
In the last financial year, the company made a net profit of Tk144 crore and paid 35 percent cash dividend to its shareholders.
The paid-up capital of Acme Laboratories is currently Tk211.60 crore.
Sponsors and directors together owned 32.14 percent shares of the company till February 2020. The institutional, foreign and general investors owned 31.51 percent, 0.17 percent and 36.18 percent shares, respectively.
After disclosing the third quarter financial information, Acme's share price rose by 2.59 percent to Tk59.50 at the Dhaka Stock Exchange. The company's shares hit their highest price of Tk78 within the last year.
