Dacca Dyeing chairman, MD default on Dhaka Bank loan

The chairman and managing director of The Dacca Dyeing and Manufacturing Company – one of the oldest textile millers in the country – have defaulted on a nearly Tk7.5 crore loan from Dhaka Bank.

Hence, in order to recover the loan, the bank has recently called an auction to sell the assets owned by the listed company's Chairman Giasuddin Quader Chowdhury, and Managing Director Sameer Quader Chowdhury.

They are also directors at QC Corporation.

A senior official at Dhaka Bank said basically, QC Corporation is the main defaulter of the Tk7.5 crore loan which includes interests. So as per the law, if a company is a defaulter, its owners are too.

Meanwhile, Dacca Dyeing itself also defaulted on a total of Tk125 crore loan from three banks – Agrani Bank, Sonali Bank, and Dutch-Bangla Bank – since 2014. The banks have blocked the company's short and long-term loans.

Of the banks, the company owes Agrani Bank Tk77 crore, Sonali Bank Tk42 crore, and Dutch-Bangla Bank Tk6 crore, according to Dacca Dyeing's financial report for the fiscal 2021-22.

And, in the report, Dacca Dyeing's auditor said the company is selling most of its products in the local market for cash. Because of the defaulted loan, it is unable to open letters of credit, and hence, unable to export its products.

The auditor has also expressed concerns about the company's ability to survive, because of all these defaulted loans.

The Business Standard tried to reach Sameer Quader Chowdhury over phone, but his phone was switched off.

Dacca Dyeing, however, regularly paid dividends till 2015. Then from 2016 to 2019, it failed to declare dividends because of losses. But then it started to provide dividends regularly from 2020.

Since August last year, its share price dropped by 44% at the Dhaka Stock Exchange. At the end of Tuesday's trading session, its shares closed at Tk13.20 each.