Tk 56 crore loss in 2023: ICB Islamic Bank goes in the black

Gazi Anowarul Hoque :
ICB Islamic Bank, a junk stock, went in the black. It recorded a loss of Tk 56.49 crore in 2023. The bank also suffered Tk 25.25 crore losses in the year that ended in December 2022. The bank has been running at a loss for the last few years.
According to a filing on the Dhaka Stock Exchange, ICB’s loss was Tk 0.85 per share, up from Tk 0.38 the previous year. Therefore, the board recommended no dividends to shareholders in 2023 due to losses, with the annual general meeting to take place on May 9.
Incorporated in 1987, shares of the bank declined 2.44 percent to Tk 4 today.
The bank’s financial report for December 31, 2023, was published on the DSE website on Sunday and said that the bank’s losses have increased by 123 per cent compared to the previous year.
The bank posted a net loss of Tk 48.56 crore in 2018, followed by a marginal decline in 2019 to Tk 42.37 crore.
Losses at the end of December 2020 fell to Tk 18.72 crore, but at the end of December 2021, the loss increased by 110 percent to Tk 39.48 crore.
The company has reported earnings per share (EPS) of negative Tk0.85, net asset value (NAV) per share of negative Tk19.36, and net operating cash flow per share (NOCFPS) of Tk 0.82 for the year ended December 31, 2023, as against negative Tk0.38, negative Tk 18.51, and negative Tk 0.88, respectively, for the year ended December 31, 2022.
Although the company has been making losses year-on-year, the bank turned a profit for the first time in April-June 2022.
In the April to June quarter of 2022, the bank’s net profit stood at Tk10.09 crore and earnings per share (EPS) at Tk0.15, according to the bank financial statement.
But from January to June of this year, its net profit decreased to Tk1.23 crore and EPS to Tk0.02, year-on-year, owing to the January to March quarter’s loss.
ICB Islamic Bank’s origins can be traced back to 1987 when it was operating under the moniker Al-Baraka Bank. In 1994, it became a ‘problematic bank’. Then in 2004, it started functioning as a scheduled commercial bank under a new name, ‘Oriental Bank’.
In June 2006, the Bangladesh Bank dissolved the board of directors of Oriental Bank after detecting massive corruption. To safeguard the interest of depositors, the central bank took over full control of the bank.
Then in August 2007, the central bank floated a tender to sell the majority of the bank’s shares.
Two bidders participated in the tender, with Swiss ICB Group walking away with the stake. The bank was renamed ICB Islamic Bank in 2008.
“Z” Caterer this bank paid-up capital is Tk 664 crore and its authorized capital is Tk 1500 crore, while the total number of securities is 66.47 crore.
The sponsor-directors own a 52.76 percent stake in the company, while the government own 0.17 per cent and institutional investors own 21.64 percent, and the general public owns 25.43 percent as of February 2024, the DSE data shows.
It got listed on the stock exchanges in 1990. At the end of Sunday trading session, its shares closed at Tk4 each at the Dhaka Stock Exchange.
ICB Islamic Bank held its annual general meeting (AGM) on July 11, 2024 through a digital platform. The record date for the distribution of the declared dividend among the shareholders has been fixed as May 9 2024.