United Power suffers sharp fall in profit

United Power Generation & Distribution Company Ltd saw its profits fell sharply in the last financial year because of a huge amount of foreign exchange loss incurred by its subsidiaries for devaluation of the taka against the dollar.

The earnings per share (EPS) of the company fell 20 percent year-on-year to Tk 13.83 in the 2022-23 financial year, according to a disclosure made by the company after a board meeting Thursday.

"Consolidated EPS decreased for incurring a significant amount of exchange loss in foreign currency transactions incurred by subsidiary companies for the volatile foreign exchange situation, brought about by the sharp devaluation of the taka against the dollar," said the private power producer.

"Banks have also raised interest rate on the back of stubbornly high inflation compared to the same period last year," the United Power said.

The company has not disclosed its detail earnings.

However, the data of its outstanding 57.96 crore shares available on the Dhaka Stock Exchange website shows that United Power's profit stood at around Tk 801 crore in the July-June period of 2022-23 down from nearly Tk 997 crore a year ago.

As profit slump, the board of the United Power Generation proposed a drastic cut in dividend to 80 percent cash for the 2022-23 financial year, down from 170 percent the previous year.