Libra Infusions disclosing pending financial results

Libra Infusions Ltd has finally begun to disclose its financial results that have been pending since mid-2019.

Predictably, it has had losses for the first nine months of fiscal year 2019-20.

With a mixture of small profits in the first three months and much bigger losses in the next six months, the intravenous fluids producer posted Tk5.24 in losses per share (negative earnings per share or negative EPS) for the July 2019 to March 2020 period.

The unaudited losses appeared to have been much smaller than the negative EPS of Tk18.07 for the same nine months of the previous 2018-19 fiscal year, when an extraordinary fourth quarter helped the firm save its annual bottom line, posting Tk1.05 in annual EPS.

However, since the decline in earnings, the company stopped disclosing financials though it continued operating. 

In 2018, its business declined owing to disputes with its financier Al-Arafah Islami Bank Ltd, said Libra Infusions Company Secretary Md Shafiqul Islam Bhuyan.

The company built a second unit at its factory complex in the capital's Mirpur area, but due to the dispute with and no cooperation from the bank, its business was hurt back then, he said.

However, the dispute of Tk157.2 crore with the bank was settled by a Solenama made with the bank, before the High Court, he said.

The business is running and the company will publish its annual financial results for 2019-20 fiscal year on Thursday, he added.

Investors will still be in the dark about the 2020-21 and 2021-22 fiscal year  financial updates.

The fall of Libra Infusions

The producer of intravenous fluids, commonly known as injectable saline, started business in 1985 with a factory built with the technical assistance of a Swiss company.

In 2009, the company undertook a project to build a second unit at its Mirpur factory. For this, it took a loan of Tk84 crore from Al-Arafah Islami Bank, but the company began to collapse following a standoff over loan repayment.

A former Libra Infusions official, earlier this year claimed while talking to The Business Standard, that the Shariah-based bank had invested in Libra's Unit 2 at the time, but the project could not take off on time as the lender did not release funds in a timely manner. The company had to count losses.

And since the bank had invested here and the losses had been due to the lender, Libra did not repay the loan installments, and instead filed a case against the bank seeking compensation, he added.

Later in 2015, Al-Arafah Islami Bank filed a lawsuit against Dr Roushon Alam, managing director of Libra Infusions, on charges of threatening bank officials. The lender also filed 13 cases for bounced cheques and another one for the recovery of loans in default.

Dr Roushon Alam was arrested in connection with the cases and was later released on bail.

Also, in 2019, the bank issued a notice to sell Libra Infusions' assets at auction to recover loans in default, but as per a decision of the High Court, that did not see the light of day.

In such a tug-of-war between the two sides, Libra Infusions suffered a working capital shortfall affecting production, said the former official of the company.

He also said that despite being among the first companies in the country, at present, its business is lagging far behind others. Moreover, there is a lack of good governance in the company generating such tensions with the bank.

Earlier in 2017, the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) fined Libra directors a total of Tk12 lakh for non-compliance in financial statements.

This time, the BSEC is yet to punish the company or its directors for the delays in publishing financial statements.

Libra Infusions shares having a face value of Tk10 each, closed 1.7% lower at Tk857.7 on the Dhaka Stock Exchange on Tuesday, while the company disclosed a net asset value of Tk1,264 per share as of 31 March, 2020.