Despite the ongoing economic crisis of the country, Eastern Housing, the top level company in the housing sector, has sold land worth 89 crore rupees. The company sold this land from July to December last year. In the previous year, i.e. from July to December 2021, the company had sold land worth Rs 74 crore. As such, the company’s income from land sales has increased by Tk 15 crore or more than 20 percent within a year.
As a listed company in the stock market, Eastern Housing published its half-yearly financial report today on Tuesday. The company disclosed the financial report information to the investors through the website of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), the main stock market of the country. After reviewing the financial report, this information about the business of the country’s top local organization in the housing sector has been known.
Apart from the increase in income from the sale of land, the company has also earned a large amount of interest by keeping term deposits in the bank. At the end of the half-year, the company made a profit of Tk 29 crore, which is about Tk 4.5 crore or 18.5 percent more than the same period of the previous year. The company’s earnings per share or EPS also increased due to the increase in profits. At the end of last July-December, the EPS of the company stood at 3 taka 13 paisa. In the same period of 2021, EPS was Rs 2.64 paise.
Meanwhile, the company’s share price also jumped in the stock market on Tuesday due to the increase in profit and EPS. The company’s share price rose by 10 percent or 8 taka 30 paisa to 91 taka 50 paisa in Dhaka market today. The company was the top gainer on the DSE today.
According to the financial report of Eastern Housing, in the last six months of 2022 (July-December), the company has done business of Tk 101 crore. Out of this land has been sold for 89 crore rupees. And sold the flat for 12 crore rupees. Apart from this, the company has earned about Tk 12 crore interest by keeping fixed deposits (FDR) of Tk 466 crore in 9 banks of the country. Interest income during the same period of the previous year was Rs.5 crores. As it turns out, Eastern Housing has more than doubled its interest income in the six months of last year compared to the previous year.
A top official of the company told Prothom Alo on condition of anonymity that the company did not invest much in new projects during the said period last year considering the economic situation. Because of this, there was a lot of cash in hand. Keeping that money in the bank made a good income.
People related to the housing sector said that usually in any economic crisis, people’s interest in buying land or flats increases. People invest in these sectors as a safe investment. Its evidence is also found in the business of Eastern Housing. After the start of the Russia-Ukraine war in February last year, the country also experienced an economic crisis. At this time, the price of all kinds of goods increased a lot. Dollar-crisis occurs in the banking sector. In spite of this, people’s investment in land has increased. Due to this, the land sales of Eastern Housing increased by more than 20 percent compared to the previous year.