United Power Generation witnesses steady growth

Mohammad Mufazzal | Published: January 12, 2019 22:02:21

United Power Generation & Distribution Company (UPGDC) posted a steady growth in dividend disbursement in last few years.
During the period, the company's earnings per share (EPS) also rose moderately.
The UPGDC, formerly known as Malancha Holdings began operation for ensuring uninterrupted, quality power supply to the industries housed within the country's Export Processing Zones (EPZs).
Presently the company is involved in power generation, distribution, steam generation and supply up to their customer's doorsteps.
The UPGDC reported its EPS of Tk 5.89 and Tk 8.3 for the calendar years 2013 and 2014.
The EPS was Tk 15.57 (18 months) till June 30, 2016. Later, the company reported its EPS of Tk 10.46 and Tk 11.51 for the fiscal year (FY) 2016-17 and FY 2017-18 respectively.
The company disbursed 35 per cent cash dividend in 2013 and 30 per cent cash and 10 per cent stock dividend in 2014.
It disbursed 125 per cent cash dividend for 18 months for the period ended on June 30, 2016. The amount of dividend was 90 per cent cash and 10 per cent stock for the FY 2016-17.
Finally, the UPGDC disbursed 90 per cent cash and 20 per cent stock dividend for the year 2017-18.
The company's revenue earnings gradually rose in last three FYs and two calendar years.
It reported revenue of above Tk 3.39 billion and above Tk 4.46 billion for the calendar years 2013 and 2014 respectively.
The revenue stood at above Tk 7.90 billion for 18 months till June 30, 2016.
Later, the company reported its revenue of above Tk 5.75 billion and above Tk 6.14 billion for FY 2016-17 and FY 2017-18 respectively.
The company's operating profit rose 4.24 per cent to close at above Tk 4.15 billion in the FY 2017-18 compared to same period of the previous year.
Net profit increased 10.09 per cent in 2017-18 compared to previous FY. The company reported net profit of Tk 4.17 billion for the FY 2016-17 and Tk 4.59 billion for the FY 2017-18.
During the last operation year, the company generated a total of 941.03 million kWh of electricity at an
average capacity utilisation of 75 per cent, according to General Md. Abdul Mubeen, chairman of the UPGDC.
He said their company has maintained its trend of a healthy gross profit margin of 68.66 per cent which cascaded into a resultant net profit of above Tk 4.59 billion, which is 10 per cent growth over last year.
"Given the inherent business challenges, this is a praiseworthy performance by the UPGDC," the chairman said in the company's annual report for the FY 2017-18.
The company's return on assets (ROA) was 27.67 per cent in the FY 2016-17 and 28 per cent in the FY 2017-18, according to the annual report.
The ROA is an indicator of how profitable a company is relative to its total assets. ROA gives an idea as to how efficient a company's management is at using its assets to generate earnings.
The UPGDC, presently an 'A' category company, was listed the stock exchanges in 2015.
The company's sponsor-directors hold 90 per cent shares, institutes 5.43 per cent, foreign shareholders 0.13 and general shareholders 4.44 per cent as of December 31, 2018.
The company's share price closed at Tk 323.60 each on Thursday with a marginal loss of 0.65 per cent or Tk 2.10 on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE).
mufazzal.fe@gmail.com