Far East Knitting and Dyeing Industries, a listed company in the bourses, has decided to invest Tk 260 million to double its production capacity. “We will invest Tk 260 million for expansion project, which will increase production capacity of finished garments approximately one million pieces per month in basic T-Shirt,” Asif Moyeen, Managing Director of Fareast Knitting & Dyeing Industries told the FE on Wednesday. “Our export will be almost double to US$60 million after completion of the new project,” said Mr Asif adding, “The project is expected to be completed by March, 2016.” He said that their reputation is increasing in the international markets and customers have confidence in them. “We need to expand our business to meet increased demand,” he added. He informed that the total cost of the expansion project is estimated at Tk 260 million for civil works, setting up machinery and miscellaneous. The City Bank will finance the fund. Kamal Uddin Ahmed, General Manager of the company said around 350 sewing machines and iron tables will be set up under the new project. Based in Gazipur, Far East Knitting and Dyeing Industries, is one of the leading composite textile companies in the country, with integrated, knitting, high end dyeing, finishing (tubular & open width), state of the art printing, pigment dyeing and garment washing. Listed on the capital market in 2014, each share of the company was traded between Tk 26.4 and Tk 25.3, before closing at Tk 25.7 on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) on Wednesday. The Far East Knitting floated 25 million ordinary shares at an offer price of Tk 27, including a premium of Tk 17 for each ten taka share and raised a fund worth Tk 675 million from the public in June, last year. The company has reported net profit after tax from Jan15 to March15 Tk 139.13 million with EPS of Tk 1.05 as against Tk 107.44 million and Tk 0.99 respectively for the same period of the previous year. Of the total share, sponsor/directors owned most of the shares 78.45 per cent, public held by 19.39 per cent while institutions owned by only 2.15 per cent shares. Far East Knitting supplies finished goods to some renowned apparel brands in the world including Wal-Mart, Primark, New Look and Bershka. Its major products are knitwear such as T-shirt, tank top and vest, and jacket, according to the company’s website. Presently, the production capacity of finished garments approximately 1.5 million pieces per month in basic T-Shirt. Currently, 41 textile companies are listed on the premier bourse, accounting for around 4.0 per cent of total market capitalisation that stood at Tk 3409.97 billion after Wednesday’s trade.
