The net profit of ADN Telecom tumbled 42 per cent year-on-year to Tk 149 million for FY'24, owing to increased business expenses and high borrowing costs amid rising interest rates.
This is the lowest profit for the IT and telecommunication service provider since its listing in 2020, although it reported record revenue for FY'24.
The company's consolidated earnings per share (EPS) stood at Tk 2.31 for FY'24, down from Tk 4.0 the previous year, according to its annual earnings disclosure published on Thursday.
Rising business costs and increased interest expenses on loans, driven by higher borrowing rates, impacted the profit growth, said an official of the company.
However, its revenue grew 12 per cent to Tk 1.50 billion in FY'24, with 6 per cent of that growth coming from its subsidiaries, while the remainder was driven by business-to-consumer (B2C) sales.
With the acquisition of an additional 40 per cent shares in ADN International Gateway during the year, the total shareholding of ADN Telecom increased to 80 per cent, which enhanced the consolidated sales, said the company.
The company made exceptionally good profit in FY'23 due to some one-time sales under different projects, which was absent in this financial year, leading to lower profit in FY'24, said the company.
The company's board declared a 10 per cent cash dividend for FY'24. It paid out a 15 per cent cash dividend the previous year.
Despite lower profit and dividend declaration, its stock price rose 2.16 per cent to close at Tk 85.10 on Dhaka Stock Exchange on Thursday.
The company will hold its annual general meeting on December 18 and the record date for entitlement of dividend is on November 17.
The net operating cash flow per share, a measure of a company's ability to generate cash from its operations, rose to Tk 5.96 per share, up from Tk 2.57 the previous year, due to higher collection of receivables from customers.
The net asset value, which refers to the excess of total assets over total liabilities, reached Tk 31.35 per share as of June this year, up from Tk 30.54 in the year before.
Listed in January 2020, ADN Telecom offers a wide range of data, voice and Internet services to local and international clients.
It raised Tk 570 million through an initial public offering (IPO) at the end of 2019 for business expansion.
The company developed infrastructure and established a data centre from the IPO fund.
The company also invested in different companies for business expansion, including Shohoj, ADN Eduservices, MY TEL Ltd, ADN Media and ADN International Gateway in the past two years.
Last year in June, ADN Telecom acquired a 10 per cent stake in Shohoj by investing Tk 120 million as part of its business expansion. The company said the investment had a positive impact on its long-term growth and success.
[email protected]
