Beach Hatchery shows encouraging signs for investors
The company has resumed business after four years
Beach Hatchery Ltd, an agro farm, is trying to turn the tide of its fortunes.
The company has taken all necessary preparations to cultivate white fish in the Trishal area of Mymensingh, four years after it closed business in Teknaf.
The company has acquired 101 acres of land in Trishal till 2024.
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In October last year, Beach Hatchery decided to cultivate white fish, including tilapia, pangas, catfish, shorputi and others to protect the interest of its shareholders.
And the company's first white fish project in Trishal is going on in full swing since last month, company sources said.
Beach Hatchery's Company Secretary Nur Islam told The Business Standard that the company management plans to start commercial operations soon.
"As Covid-19 has brought everything to a halt, project activities have stopped too. And it will only resume as life slowly returns to normal."
However, to expand its business, Beach Hatchery decided to cultivate white fish, including Barramundi, koral, Indian Salmon in the Teknaf area of Cox's Bazar in April 2019.
Nur Islam said, "We only just made an agreement with the Norway based company AquaOptima and its local agent Agile Resources. And the project is yet to start."
Listed at the Dhaka Stock Exchange in 2002, Beach Hatchery has not been in business since 2016. So the company is on the Dhaka Stock Exchange's surveillance list.
The agro farm used to do business at Teknaf in Cox's Bazar, but the government acquired its land to build a marine drive. So the company had to close business.
In the first half of the current fiscal year, the company's net loss was Tk0.98 crore.
According to the company's auditor, the company borrowed Tk1.66 crore from Bangladesh Krishi Bank for project finance and Tk4.31 crore for working capital on 30 June 2019.
Also, the company showed trade receivables of Tk27.65 crore in its financial statement which is not completely recoverable, says the auditor.
The last trading price of each share of the company at the Dhaka Stock Exchange was Tk13.60.
