The company is heading towards a record-setting year of profit

Beximco Group, it appears, has been the biggest beneficiary of the global coronavirus pandemic -- there are no two ways about it.

In just the first six months of its 2020-21 financial year, which runs from July to June, it has logged in more profit than it did in full years since 2012.

Between June and December of last year, the country’s largest private-sector employer’s profit more than doubled to Tk 276.2 crore from a year earlier.

And in the second quarter of its 2020-21 financial year, its profit zipped 7.7 times year-on-year to Tk 155.7 crore.

The reason for the spectacular surge in profit was higher shipments of personal protective equipment (PPE) and garment products.

Beximco flagged off its PPE export with a batch of 6.5 million medical gowns custom made to the specifications of the US Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The PPEs were manufactured by its textile and apparel division, which is one of the largest in Bangladesh and supplies to household names like Target, Zara, Michael Kors, PVH, Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein.

“The PPEs, masks and garment products were in great demand,” Mohammad Asad Ullah, executive director and company secretary of Beximco, told Dhaka Tribune.

It is no surprise then that Beximco’s stock is on an incredible gaining streak: it gained a whopping 576 per cent over the past six months to close at Tk 88.9 on January 24, the last trading session.

The company, which was listed in 1989 at the Dhaka bourse, paid 5 per cent cash dividend to its shareholders for the 2019-20 financial year, when it logged in profit of Tk 44.6 crore.

But its performance in the first six months of the 2020-21 financial year suggests the shareholders can brace themselves for a massive payday.