Eastern Housing profit plummets 18% in FY24
Rise in raw material prices, cost of registration and higher inflation seen as hindrances for real estate sector’s growth
Eastern Housing Limited, a prominent developer firm in the country, has reported an 18% year-on-year fall in profit as its apartment sales declined significantly in the last fiscal year 2023-24.
The publicly listed real estate firm decided to pay a 19% cash dividend for FY24, down from 25% a year ago.
The services and real estate firm reported an earnings per share (EPS) of Tk6.04, which was Tk7.37 in FY23.
After the declaration of dividend, its shares price fell by 5.49% or TK4.2 each to Tk72.30 each today on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE).
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Salim Ahmed, company secretary of Eastern Housing, told The Business Standard, "Profitability for FY24 declined owing to de-growth of sales, basically apartment sales declined significantly. But land sales remained slightly better than the apartment sales."
He said the country's real estate sector has now been experiencing a slowdown owing to rising raw material prices and registration costs.
Persistent higher inflation that squeezed the spending ability of people may also have contributed to lower sales, he said.
The country's inflation reported to 10.49% in August marking a 1.17 percentage point decline from the record 11.66% in July, according to data from the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics unveiled on 8 September.
Eastern Housing is yet to publish its annual sales. In the first nine months of FY24, its revenue was Tk164 crore, and profit of Tk43.83 crore at the same time of FY23.
The net operating cash flow per share stood negative at Tk10.42, which was positive at Tk80.08 at the same time of the previous fiscal year.
The net asset value (NAV) per share stood at Tk83.62, significantly higher than the same time of the previous fiscal year.
The NAV per share of the company was Tk20.56 in FY23.
The annual general meeting of the company has been set for 30 October through the digital platform, and record date to identify its shareholders has been fixed for 3 October.
Listed on the DSE in 1994, the company's current paid-up capital is Tk93.34 crore.
Sponsors and directors together owned 50.36% of shares of the company till August 2024 while institutional investors 22.26%, foreign 0.01% and the general investors owned 27.37%.
