Sea Pearl postpones annual general meeting

Sea Pearl Beach Resort and Spa Limited, a publicly listed company, has postponed its 15th Annual General Meeting (AGM) for the fiscal year 2023-2024, originally scheduled for 28 December.

In a disclosure filed on the stock exchange, the company announced that its board of directors has decided to postpone the AGM due to unavoidable circumstances.

Azaharul Mamun, Sea Pearl's company secretary, told TBS, "We have decided to postpone the date of the AGM. The next date has not been fixed yet."

He, however, refused to say anything about why the AGM was postponed.

Earlier, the company declared a 7% cash dividend for its shareholders for FY24. During the year, its revenue dropped by 16% to Tk165.80 crore, while the net profit fell by 60% to Tk28 crore compared to the previous year.

At the end of the last fiscal year, its earnings per share stood at Tk2.32, compared to Tk5.81 a year earlier.

Meanwhile, Sea Pearl incurred a loss of Tk12.73 crore in the first quarter of the ongoing fiscal year 2024-25.

Its revenue also dropped by 84% to Tk9.56 crore in the July-September period, compared to the same period of the last fiscal year, according to the company's financial statement.

At the end of September, the company's loss per share stood at Tk1.05.

Sea Pearl's shares closed at Tk34.60 on the Dhaka Stock Exchange today.

In the company's financial report for FY24, auditors Fames and R revealed that Sea Pearl is indebted to the tune of Tk631 crore. The debt comprises long-term loans, short-term loans, bonds, lease financing, and obligations to related parties.

The total liabilities account for 72.03% of the company's equity and liabilities, effectively representing the majority of its total assets.

Additionally, the company is engaged in ongoing litigation in the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court concerning its bond obligations. As no verdict has been reached yet, regular instalment payments on the bond remain suspended.