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4-day international plastic fair to begin at ICCB Wednesday
A four-day international plastic fair will begin in the capital's International Convention City Bashundhara (ICCB) Wednesday.
The "15th International Plastic Fair 2023" will run till February 25.
Industries Minister Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun will inaugurate the exhibition, Bangladesh Plastic Goods Manufacturers and Exporters Association President Shamim Ahmed said at a press conference Monday.
He said companies from 21 countries, including Bangladesh, China, Taiwan, India, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Indonesia, South Korea, Belgium, Canada, the US, France, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Austria, Singapore, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirate (UAE) will showcase their products at the expo.
There is a global market of plastic goods worth $570 billion where Bangladesh's share is 0.1 percent, Shamim said. "We are working to increase our market share to 3 percent."
"Currently 5030 industries, including those in the large, medium and small categories, are engaged in the manufacturing of different products. They produce plastic goods worth Tk40,000 crore from which the government receives Tk3,500 crore as revenue," he added.
Pran joins Gulfood fair to increase export to Africa, Middle East, Europe
Pran has joined the Gulfood 2023, one of the largest annual global food and beverage sourcing events in the world, to increase the export of its food products across the globe, especially to Africa, the Middle East and Europe.
The 28th edition of the fair kicked off at the Dubai World Trade Center in the United Arab Emirates Monday and will run until February 24.
Pran is showcasing around 500 products at the five-day fair.
This year, more than 5000 exhibitors from over 120 countries have joined the fair.
Mizanur Rahman, executive director of Pran export, said: "The Gulfair is very important for food processors. Traders and buyers come to the fair to gather knowledge about new products and services. Manufacturers meet with the distributors as well as get informed about the consumers' demands. Big companies come here to understand the consumers' behaviours."
"Pran has been participating in the fair since 2013. On average 400 importers from various countries visit our stall every year. This year, Pran is exhibiting products in different categories, including juice and beverage, biscuit and bakery, snack, confectionery, spice and culinary, frozen food, drink, juice, wafer, chocolate, and noodles."
Kamruzzaman Kamal, director (marketing) of Pran-RFL Group, said: "We are focusing on the markets of Africa, the Middle East, America, Australia and South Asia. We have set an export target of $400 million in 2023."
Banks will provide Tk103.5 for each dollar to repatriate export income
Banks will provide a special benefit of Tk0.50 for each US dollar to repatriate the export income of December and January by February 28.
A meeting of managing directors (MDs) of state-owned and private banks has decided that the special benefit of an additional Tk0.50 against each dollar of export earnings will be given for the month of January as well.
The decision has been taken to increase US dollar flow in the domestic money market, sources said.
Earlier this facility was given in respect of export earnings monetization for the months of November and December.
BRAC Bank MD Salim RF Hossain told UNB that Tk 0.50 extra will be given against every dollar if the income of the exports that were made in December and January is repatriated by February 28.
In this case, exporters will get Tk103.50 per dollar, he said.
Earlier, on February 1, the dollar rate was pegged for the last time in cashing export bills. It was then decided that the banks would pay Tk103 per dollar to repatriate the export earnings. Before this the rate was Tk102 per dollar.
However, Bangladesh Foreign Exchange Dealers Association (BAFEDA) has nothing to do with the decision to pay this extra Tk0.50, said the executive secretary of the organization, Abul Hashem.
It is not obligatory, but banks can provide a Tk103.5 rate for repatriation if they (banks) wish, he said.
BSEC appoints four independent directors to DSE
Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) has appointed 4 new independent directors at Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE).
A letter signed by the Additional Director of BSEC Mohammad Nazrul Islam has been sent to the Managing Director of DSE on Monday (February 20).
BSEC Chairman Professor Shibli Rubaiyat-ul-Islam confirmed it to UNB and said that four independent directors of the board have been appointed for the next three years.
Two more persons will be appointed as directors in three categories soon, he said.
The new four directors are -Dhaka University (DU) Dean of Faculty of Engineering and Technology Hafiz Hasan Babu, Professor of Banking and Insurance Department Abdullah Al Mahmud, former Secretary and Chairman Bangladesh Trade and Tariff Commission (BTTC) Afzal Hossain and Oracle Bangladesh Country Managing Director (Nepal and Bhutan) Rubaba Daula.
ICCB workshop focuses on innovations in trade finance
In the context of the ongoing global financial and economic crisis, banks and businesses need to take stringent measures to ensure that their sales transactions are watertight.
Open account and International factoring are being adopted by most countries around the world for better and smoother trade finance.
Factoring in South Asia as a region in general and Bangladesh, in particular, has still been very limited, whereas factoring in most other regions of the world has exploded with the shift towards open account trade, said ICC Bangladesh Vice President A. K. Azad at the Certificate Award Ceremony of ICC Bangladesh Workshop on Factoring & Open Account for International Trade Finance.
Bangladesh has made a strong economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. The export income is increasing and is successfully advancing overcoming all hurdles. During FY22, the RMG export was $42.62 billion, which is about 82 per cent of the total export of $52.08 billion. The Country is poised to overtake China in garments export to the EU. Bangladesh’s share in the global RMG market is only 6.50% as against China’s 32.21%, he added.
Azad mentioned that BGMEA is targeting to export US$100 billion worth of garment items by 2030. Besides, there is immense potential for Bangladesh to increase its export of leather goods, pharmaceuticals, plastic products and other products.
Azad observed that Bangladesh Bank’s circular on ‘conditional open account transactions’ is a good initiative. It is now more than two years that open account transactions have been allowed by Bangladesh. We would suggest undertaking studies on the impact of this decision as well as considering the possibility of allowing conditional open account for import as well. ICC Bangladesh can work together with Bangladesh Bank in this regard, he said,
“Bangladesh Government is promoting digitization to make Smart Bangladesh. Therefore, we would suggest appropriate policy changes should be made by Bangladesh Bank to digitize international trade. We from ICC Bangladesh will be delighted to support Bangladesh Bank in implementing DSI developed by ICC HQ.” Azad said.
Ahmed Jamal, Deputy Governor of Bangladesh Bank in his keynote speech mentioned that Bangladesh Bank after huge exercises brought radical changes in foreign trade transactions by the issuance of FE Circular No. 25 on June 30, 2020. Bangladesh Bank is always committed to providing policy support to our exporters and importers. Given the ongoing situation due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Bangladesh Bank extended policy supports to international trade by ways of (a) extending repatriation of export proceeds, (b) extension of usance periods of import payments including back-to-back LCs, (c) EDF loan repayment extended to 360 days, (d) refinancing from EDF for normal back to back LCs and so on, Deputy Governor added.
He observed even during the pandemic situation we are being visited by several international financing institutes. This indicates that we are growing despite different odds. I am sure external financiers will benefit from trade transactions in Bangladesh. He requested the exporters to use the policy to protect their payments.
Dr Md. Akhtaruzzaman, Director General, Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management (BIBM) & Peter Mourly, Secretary General, Factor Chain International, The Netherlands addressed the inaugural session and ICC Bangladesh Secretary General Ataur Rahman delivered the welcome address.
In the workshop, a panel discussion was held. The panel discussion was moderated by Muhammad A. (Rumee) Ali and the keynote speaker was Ahmed Jamal, Deputy Governor of Bangladesh Bank.
The panelists were: Md Fazlul Hoque, Managing Director, Plummy Fashions Ltd.; Mohammad Hatem, Executive President, BKMEA & Managing Director, MB Knit Fashion Ltd.; Muhammad Mohsin Reza, General Manager, Supply Chain of SKF Pharmaceuticals Limited; Naser Ezaz Bijoy, President, Foreign Investors’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) and Chief Executive Officer, Standard Chartered Bank; Ahmed Shaheen, Additional Managing Director, Eastern Bank Limited; Peter Mulroy, Secretary General, Factor Chain International (FCI) and Dr Prashanta Kumar Banerjee, Professor, Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management (BIBM).
A total of 131 participants including officials of the Ministry of Commerce and Bangladesh Bank, 96 participants from 31 banks and 32 participants from 24 companies attended the day-long workshop.
Read more: Accelerate gas exploration to overcome energy crisis: ICCB
Robi's profit after tax grew 1.3% in '22
Forex loss dealt a heavy blow on Robi’s financials as it knocked off 49% of its profit after tax (PAT) in 2022. Instead of around 361 crore taka, Robi could only book 182.7 crore taka as PAT for the year; which means around 179 crore taka was lost as PAT due to this reason. Robi disclosed this while releasing its financial results for 2022 on Sunday.
Robi continued to enjoy 4G leadership position in 2022 with 53% of its total subscribers being 4G users. Around 76% of Robi’s subscriber base were data users in 2022, which was the highest in the industry. Robi ensured 98.3% population coverage of its 4G network with around 16,000 4G sites at the end of 2022. Compared to 2021, data usage per subscriber, per month, increased by around 36%. In 2022, each Robi data subscriber consumed 5.5GB data every month on an average.
Robi’s subscriber base grew by around 1.4% compared to 2021 to reach 5 crore 44 lakhs at the end of 2022, representing 30% of the subscriber market share; on the other hand, data subscriber base grew by 4% in 2022 to reach 4 crore 11 lakhs. Meanwhile, compared to 2021, Robi’s 4G subscriber base grew by 21% to reach 2 crore 89 lakhs.
With 2,254.3 crore taka revenue in Q4’22, Robi’s revenue in 2022 reached 8,586 crore taka. Compared to 2021, revenue rose by 5.4% in 2022. Compared to Q4’21, revenue rose by 10% in Q4’22.
Voice revenue in 2022 increased by 9%. Compared to Q4’21, voice revenue rose by 7% in Q4’22. Data revenue increased by around 2%, compared to 2021. Compared to Q4’21, data revenue rose by 16% in Q4’22. Including 384.4 crore taka CAPEX investment in Q4’22, Robi’s total CAPEX investment for 2022 reached 1,530 crore taka.
Including 126 crore taka Profit After Tax (PAT) in Q4’ 22, Robi ended 2022 with 182.7 crore taka PAT, which is around 1.3% higher than 2021.
EBITDA in Q4’22 was 1,066.4 crore taka (with 47% margin), while the EBITDA for 2022 reached 3,854.3 crore taka (with 45% margin), marking a rise of 16.5% compared to 2021.
Robi’s total contribution to the Government exchequer reached 4,816 crore taka in 2022, including 1,366 crore taka in Q4’22. Robi contributed 60% of its revenue in Q4’22 and 56% of its revenue in 2022 to the Government exchequer.
The company’s earnings per share (EPS) in Q4’22 was 0.25 taka; EPS for 2022 was 0.35 taka, which was around 1.3% higher than 2021. Had we not lost nearly half of our PAT to forex loss, our EPS for 2022 would have been 0.67 taka, which would have been 96% higher than 2021.
Robi’s Board of Directors have recommended cash dividend at the rate of 7% (i.e. BDT 0.70 per share), which represents 200.7% of the PAT for 2022. The decision was taken at the Board Meeting held on 16th February, 2022. Robi’s 27th Annual General Meeting is scheduled to be held on 25th April, 2022.
Commenting on the financial performance of the company, Robi’s CEO, Rajeev Sethi said: “Forex loss has deprived us from a stellar year; our moment of glory was snatched away when PAT literally halved due to forex loss. On top of that, application of 2% minimum tax felt like the last nail in the coffin as far as our PAT for the year was concerned. On the positive side, we managed to make significant gains out of our optimized cost structure.
Going forward we will continue to leverage cost optimization to strengthen our bottom-line.”
Raising concern over the unsustainability of the data business, he said: “Despite data traffic growth of 45%, our data revenue in 2022 only increased by around 2% compared to 2021 due to ever sliding data price induced by aggressive price war in the industry. In absence of data floor price, such price war is rendering the data business unsustainable. We urge immediate attention of the regulator on this matter.”
Reflecting on the completion of Robi’s 25 years anniversary, Robi’s CEO Rajeev Sethi said: “2022 will always remain a special year for Robi, as we celebrated 25 glorious years of our operation this year. It was particularly heartening to note that we observed this poignant moment of our journey with the largest percentage of 4G users in the industry (53% of our subscribers being 4G users.
Read more: Forex reserves can cover import for 5 months: Quader
Nagad Islamic wins 'Best Innovation in other Financial Institution' award
Nagad Islamic has scooped up the "Best Innovation in other Financial Institutions" award at the fifth Bangladesh Innovation Award gala 2023.
They received the honour for their "innovative approach and extraordinary success in introducing the country's first and only Shariah-compliant mobile financial service."
The award ceremony, presented by GPH Ispat in collaboration with Aspire to Innovate (a2i) and in association with The Daily Star, was held Saturday at a city hotel in Dhaka, mobile financial services provider Nagad said Monday.
ICT State Minister Zunaid Ahmed Palak was the chief guest at the event.
From Nagad, Sheikh Aminur Rahman, chief corporate affairs officer, Sadat Adnan Ahmad, chief marketing officer, Muhammad Solaiman, director of public affairs, Abu Sufian Mohammad Khaled, general manager of digital planning and GTM, and Ariful Alam, manager of corporate communications, received the award.
Nagad Islamic has come up with a suitable option for practising Muslims to manage their funds in an interest-free and Shariah-compliant manner, maintaining their religious values and principles, Mohammad Aminul Haque, executive director of Nagad and member of the Shariah Supervisory Committee of Nagad Islamic, said.
"We are happy that our initiative that offers people the Shariah-compliant payment solution has got recognition," he added.
The award ceremony, which was preceded by the fourth edition of the Bangladesh Business Innovation Summit, honoured 49 innovations with 26 winners and 23 honourable mentions.
The award programme was attended by more than 500 professionals and industry experts.
This year, more than 300 nominations from more than 100 organisations were submitted for the award in 21 categories.
Pran holds dealers' conference
Pran organised a two-day dealer conference at a hotel in Cox's Bazar on February 14 and 15.
The top 500 dealers of the company participated in the conference.
Ahsan Khan Chowdhury, chairman and chief executive officer of Pran-RFL Group, and Eleash Mridha, managing director of Pran Group, joined the event.
"Dealers are very important members of the Pran family. They are playing a vital role in creating and expanding the market of Pran products across the globe," Ahsan said in a media statement Saturday.
Islami Bank Sylhet holds agent banking conference
Sylhet Zone of Islami Bank Bangladesh Saturday organised the "Agent Banking Business Development Conference."
Mohammed Monirul Moula, managing director and chief executive officer of the bank, addressed the conference as the chief guest at a hotel in Sylhet.
Md Omar Faruk Khan, additional managing director, Md Maksudur Rahman, head of the development wing, and AKM Mahbub Morshed, head of the Agent Banking Division, also spoke at the event.
Monirul said: "Agent banking is playing a significant role in the expansion of Islamic banking activities. The activities of the agents in Islami Bank's deposit and investment activities will be accelerated."
Islami Bank is a joint venture public limited company engaged in commercial banking business based on Islamic Shariah. It is listed on the Dhaka Stock Exchange and Chittagong Stock Exchange.
Air Astra expands route network to Sylhet
Private carrier Air Astra will operate two daily flights between Dhaka and Sylhet from February 23.
The one-way fare will start from Tk3,495, including all taxes, Air Astra said.
This destination in northeast Bangladesh, after Chattogram and Cox's Bazar, is being launched within the first three months since the airline began commercial flight operations on November 24, 2022.
The flights will leave Dhaka at 2:10pm and 8pm and Sylhet at 3pm and 8:50pm.
Imran Asif, CEO of Air Astra, said: "With the addition of our third ATR72-600 aircraft within the first three months of operations, we are pleased to expand our operating network by launching these 2x daily flights to Sylhet, an important destination for us."
Air Astra said it operates a fleet of 3x modern French-built ATR72-600 aircraft with 70 seats.