Ifad Autos to purchase land for future expansion

Ifad Autos Limited, an authorised dealer and assembler of Ashok Leyland's vehicles, has decided to purchase one bigha of land worth Tk19.84 crore for future expansion.

The company will buy the land, located in Tejgaon Industrial Area in the capital, with its own funds.

Earlier, on 21 December this year, Ifad Autos Chairman Iftekhar Ahmed Tipu sold two crore shares of the listed automobile company.

The price of each share of the company rose by 23% to Tk51.80 in the last five days at the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), according to the DSE website on Sunday.

Taskeen Ahmed, managing director of the company, said the founder of the company will invest the money from selling shares – estimated to be worth around Tk80 crore – in some other ventures of Ifad Group and repay some expensive bank loans.

The group that began its journey in the late 1980s, by importing double-decker buses and tyres, now exclusively assembles Ashok Leyland commercial vehicles and sells TVS three-wheelers as well as Escorts' farming and construction equipment.

It also entered a joint venture with Gulf Oil International UK to distribute and later manufacture Gulf brand lubricants in Bangladesh.

Beyond the automobile business, the group is also involved in the businesses of food items on both the domestic and export markets.

"Ifad Group has plans to invest more – both in fast-moving consumer goods and the automobile sector," said Taskeen Ahmed.

Ifad Autos Limited, the flagship company of the group, entered the stock market in 2015 and the sponsors and directors jointly own 62.77% of the company's shares.

Meanwhile, a 66-day countrywide shutdown due to the novel coronavirus pandemic ate away the sales and profits of most automobile companies.

Only Ifad Autos reported growth, while other automotive companies have made moderate recoveries following the reopening after the shutdown.

Ifad Autos' revenue grew by 4% to Tk187.79 crore and profit rose by 38% to Tk17.24 crore in the post-shutdown quarter (July-September).

Taskeen Ahmed, believes that the Ifad Autos made a comeback twice more robust than the industry as a whole because, "we handled our business smartly."

Explaining Ifad's "smart business," its managing director shed light on their focus on light commercial vehicles (LCV), tractors and rising demand for buses.

"What contributed most to our comeback was our focus on LCV. It is a joint venture product of Ashok Leyland and Nissan. We hit the LCV market at the beginning of this year," said Taskeen.