Kay & Que posts 76% decline in Q3 profit

Kay & Que (Bangladesh) Limited's profit fell more than 76 per cent year-on-year to Tk 5.66 lakh in the third quarter of the current financial year.  

The profit stood at Tk 23.68 lakh in the same period a year earlier.

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Thus, the earnings per share slipped to Tk 0.11 for January-March of 2022-2023 against Tk 0.46 in the same quarter of 2021-22, according to the unaudited financial statements.

Due to the absence of stone sales and the decrease of CNG sales, the overall profitability and the EPS declined in the quarter compared to the same period a year earlier, said Kay & Que in a filing on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE).

It generated a profit of Tk 18.53 lakh in the July-March period, down more than 47 per cent from the Tk 35.52 lakh it made in the identical nine-month period of FY22.

Shares of the company were down 0.04 per cent to Tk 223.40 on the DSE yesterday.

In a separate filing, Kay & Que said its board has decided to increase the paid-up capital from Tk 5.15 crore to Tk 6.86 crore.

Paid-up capital is the amount of money a company has received from shareholders in exchange for shares of stock.

As per the scheme of amalgamation approved by the High Court, Kay & Que will issue 1,708,275 new ordinary shares of Tk 10 each in favour of the existing shareholders of MultiSourcing Limited, said the filing.

MultiSourcing is an information technology company, which provides services to mobile phone operators and develops customised business solution software.

Kay & Que was incorporated in 1984 with only one operational unit, which produced carbon rod. In 2012, the factory went under long maintenance due to a fall in productivity, according to its 2021-22 annual report.

The original supplier of carbon rod factory shut its operation, so the unit could not get spare parts from the supplier and spares were not available from other sources. As the quality of carbon rod deteriorated, the management was compelled to close it.

Kay & Que opened a coal tar unit in 2002. But due to the drastic fall of demand in the local market, its operation was terminated, said the report.

It began producing pesticides but the business was also discontinued later.

In 2009, a CNG unit was opened. It was operational up to 2015. The company's CNG filling and re-fueling station, however, has been operational, said the annual report.