Three Beximco firms to face special audit

The securities regulator has decided for a special audit to check the past five years' financials of Beximco Limited, Beximco Pharmaceuticals and Shinepukur Ceramics – the three listed companies of Beximco Group.

Following a commission meeting on Tuesday (10 December), the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission, confirmed the development in a statement.

Regulatory officials said the decision comes amid a serious investors' scepticism about the authenticity of Beximco Group companies' disclosed financials including income, expenditure, assets and liabilities.

The special audit will not only uncover potential misreporting but also provide a clear financial picture of the three publicly traded companies. This initiative aligns with the interim government's efforts to address the ongoing workers' unrest at Beximco Industrial Park over unpaid wages, as it considers selling sponsors' stakes as a long-term solution to the crisis.

The Beximco Industrial Park has been plagued by labour unrest since the fall of the Awami League government which left the company unable to pay its workers.

Beximco Group Vice Chairman Salman F Rahman, former private sector adviser to ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, was arrested on 13 August in Dhaka's Sadarghat area while attempting to flee the capital.

Beximco Group owes over Tk23,400 crore to state-owned Janata Bank, with Tk19,507 crore classified as bad loans as a result of blatant violation of Bank Companies Act during disbursement.

A meeting of the Advisory Council Committee on the labour and business situation of Beximco Industrial Park, held at the Secretariat on 28 November, decided to divide 169 companies of Beximco Group into three categories.

According to the decision, Beximco Pharmaceuticals is the only A category firm. A total of 32 firms have been categorised as B category and their lenders were asked to issue expressions of interest to ownership and control transfer to international operators.

The weakest 136 firms, falling into C category, have been prescribed to shut down by clearing workers' three-month dues.

The Advisory Council meeting also resolved to designate the Bangladesh Bank-appointed receiver of Beximco Industrial Park and the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission as the implementing authorities for the planned actions.

Beximco Limited, the flagship firm of the group mainly engaged in textile business, has been reporting questioned rise and fall in sales and profits which is widely suspected to have been in line with the stock price manipulation and fundraising motives, leaving average investors in dire straits after the falls.

Continuous poor profitability of Shinepukur Ceramics also has been a curious case to analysts over years.

Beximco Pharmaceuticals, on the other hand, is a top-tier pharmaceutical firm and its shares are also traded over the counter of the London Stock Exchange.