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An inspection team of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) found Pacific Denims' factory shut during a visit on Wednesday.
In a stock exchange filing, the premier bourse informed that a team had gone to Gazaria in Munshiganj, where the company's factory is located, to examine its current operational status, but the factory was closed.
Following the news, the stock of the company plunged 5.3 per cent to Tk 5.30 per share on the Dhaka Stock Exchange.
Pacific Denims, which is involved in manufacturing, dyeing, weaving and finishing denim fabrics, was listed on the stock market in 2017, raising Tk 750 million for expanding business and repaying loans.
The company failed to expand its business due to what it says is an unfavorable business climate amid the pandemic followed by the Ukraine war.Moreover, an acute gas crisis forced the company to completely stop production in June last year as it was fully dependent on gas-based captive power.
Pacific Denims became non-compliant and failed to publish quarterly and annual financial statements since the third quarter of FY24.
As a result, shareholders are left in the dark, deprived of any updates about the company's latest performance.
The company suffered a loss of Tk 7.35 million in the January-March quarter of FY24. Since then, it has not published any financial data and has failed to declare any dividend for FY24. In FY23, it made a profit of Tk 23 million and paid only 1 per cent cash dividend.
Between FY19 and FY23, the company's profit plunged from Tk 214 million to just Tk 23 million, a significant drop at a time when the company was expected to expand business with IPO funds.
The company's website is also non-functional, and there is no name or contact number of the company secretary or any official on the DSE website.
Meanwhile, the Dhaka bourse sent the company to the 'Z' category from the 'A' category in September last year. It also requested stock brokers and merchant bankers to abstain from providing loan facilities to purchase the security of Pacific Denims.
In July 2023, the prime bourse identified 42 companies for inspection of physical entities for their failure to meet one or more regulatory obligations - holding annual general meetings, giving out dividends as declared, or paying listing fees. The purpose was to expose the real status of the companies to investors.
Fifteen companies have so far been inspected in the last two years.
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