BD Thai Food to make market debut on Monday

The share trading of BD Thai Food and Beverage, a concern of BD Thai Group, will commence on Monday at the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE).

Health Minister Zahid Maleque owns 11.41% shares in the company, where his sister Rubina Hamid holds 8.71%, brother-in-law 3.41%, son 2.71% and daughter 0.61% stakes.

Zahid Maleque set up the company in 2010 to produce bakery and drinks and sell the items in the local market and he took the position of its chairman.

After being sworn in as a minister in 2014, he resigned from the post of the company's chairman. His sister is currently serving as the chairman.

Two more companies of the health minister are being traded in the stock market. Of them, BD Thai Aluminium was traded under the "B" category and Sunlife Insurance under the "Z" category.

BD Thai Food started its commercial operation in 2013 and its sales value reached the Tk50 crore mark within the following three years.

It reported the highest turnover of Tk82 crore in FY19, but due to the Covid fallouts, its sales dropped 33% in FY20.

BD Thai Food also submitted its FY22 half-yearly unaudited report to the Dhaka Stock Exchange before the debut trading.

According to the report, its net profit fell 24% to Tk1.03 crore in the October-December quarter from a year earlier. Its earnings per share stood at Tk0.13 after considering initial public offering (IPO) shares.

At the end of the first half of FY22, its earnings per share stood at Tk0.25.

Earlier, the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) approved the company to raise Tk15 crore through issuing shares at a face value of Tk10 under the IPO fixed-price method.

The beverage and dry food producer will use the funds for machinery and equipment, land purchase and land development to enhance the existing production capacity.

According to the BSEC consent letter, the pre-IPO sponsors, directors, and investors in the company will not be able to sell any shares for the next three years after the first trading day. It also cannot declare any dividends for its shareholders before listing.

Unicap Investments Limited and BLI Capital Limited are the issue managers for the company.