Beximco is pinning great hopes on solar energy, with the company last week raising its stake in its subsidiary Beximco Power, whose main focus is the clean energy.
The development comes at a time government has set a target to produce 10 per cent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020. But it managed about 3 per cent.
Beximco bought an additional 3.5 crore shares for Tk 35 crore of its power-generating subsidiary to bring the total holding to 7.5 crore shares, which is 75 per cent of the company.
The remaining 25 per cent shares are held jointly by ASF Rahman, Salman F Rahman, Nazmul Hassan and OK Chowdhury, according to the copy of a press release obtained by Dhaka Tribune.
Beximco Power owns 80 per cent of two solar generating companies, Teesta Solar and Korotoa Solar, which have previously concluded power purchase agreements with the Bangladesh Power Development Board and an implementation agreement with the government for the supply of 200MW and 30MW solar-generated electricity from solar electricity plants to be established in Gaibandha and Panchagarh respectively.
The solar electricity plants will begin in 2022 and thereby make significant contributions to both revenue and profitability of the listed company.
Technical partners from China hold the remaining 20 per cent of the stake in the two solar companies.
“This will increase the income and investors will benefit,” Mohammad Asad Ullah, executive director and company secretary of Beximco, told Dhaka Tribune.
Investing in solar power is much more profitable and less risky.
“At the same time, it is eco-friendly,” he added.
Meanwhile, Beximco’s stock performance is raising the eyebrows of market experts: it gained a whopping 339 per cent over the past six months to close at Tk 57 on December 30, the last trading session.
The abnormal rise has prompted the Dhaka Stock Exchange to enquire if there were any no undisclosed price-sensitive information. Beximco, which has been listed since 1995, replied in the negative.
Beximco logged in a profit of Tk 44.6 crore in its 2019-20 financial year that ended on June 30, down 68.7 per cent year-on-year.
In the following three months, the company’s fortunes did not rebound: it logged in a profit of Tk 12.3 crore, down 54.8 per cent year-on-year.
