A small, debt-free food company that has paid a steady 20% cash dividend for years — but its sales have been shrinking and it earns only a low return on what it owns.

Apex Foods Limited operates in Bangladesh's food and allied products sector. It has been a listed company on the stock market since 1981, which makes it one of the older names on the exchange — it has lived through many market cycles over more than four decades.

It is a small company. Its paid-up capital is only about 5.7 crore taka, spread over roughly 0.57 crore shares (about 57 lakh shares), each with a face value of 10 taka. Over the years it has built up reserves of about 48.8 crore taka — many times its paid-up capital — which shows it has kept a good part of its past profits inside the business instead of raising fresh money from shareholders.

Its yearly sales have ranged from about 203 crore taka to about 351 crore taka over the last few years, so it is a modest business rather than a large one. Being in food, its products are everyday consumer goods, but the company is small next to the big consumer names on the market.

The company makes its money by producing and selling food and allied products. Customers buy these goods, and that sales income is where the company's revenue comes from.

What matters most here is the direction of sales. Revenue was about 276 crore taka in 2021, rose to about 351 crore taka in 2022, but then slipped to about 242 crore taka in 2023 and about 203 crore taka in 2024. So after a good year, the top line has been drifting down rather than growing.

Interestingly, even as sales fell, the company squeezed more profit out of each taka of sales — its operating profit rose from about 3.4 crore taka in 2021 to about 10.6 crore taka in 2023, before easing to about 6.7 crore taka in 2024. That tells us the business became leaner and more efficient, but it is doing so on a shrinking base of sales, which is not a comfortable place to be for the long run.

The company is profitable. Its net profit was about 1.18 crore taka in 2021 and grew to about 3.65 crore taka in 2025 — an increase of roughly 209% over those five years. Profit per share rose in step, from about 2.07 taka in 2021 to about 6.41 taka in 2025, up about 210%.

But the path was not a smooth climb. Profit per share went 2.07 taka (2021), 5.14 taka (2022), 8.91 taka (2023), then dropped to 5.66 taka (2024) before recovering to 6.41 taka (2025). So the best year so far was 2023, and the numbers have wobbled since. Part of the big five-year jump is simply because 2021 was a weak starting point.

The good news is that the company keeps turning its profit into real cash — its operating cash flow was positive each year from 2021 to 2024 (about 24, 35, 47 and 14 crore taka), which means the profits are backed by money actually coming in, not just paper entries. The 2024 dip in cash flow, though, is a reminder that this can swing quite a lot from one year to the next.

This is one of the company's clear strengths. It carries essentially no borrowing — its total loans are recorded as zero, and in the earlier years where debt shows up at all it was tiny (about 1.26 crore taka in 2021 and about 0.93 crore taka in 2022) against equity of around 68 to 78 crore taka. A company with almost no debt does not have to worry about interest payments or lenders in a bad year.

Its own money (equity) has stayed in the 68 to 78 crore taka range across the years, and its cash balance has actually grown — from under 1 crore taka in 2021 and 2022 to about 5.9 crore taka in 2023 and about 10 crore taka in 2024. It has also built reserves of about 48.8 crore taka, many times its 5.7 crore taka paid-up capital, which is a healthy cushion.

A local credit rating agency gave the company a solid long-term rating with a stable outlook, which fits the picture of a low-debt, well-cushioned balance sheet. In short, this is a business built to survive a bad year — the question mark is about growth, not about safety.

Apex Foods has been a reliable dividend payer. For each of the last five years (2021 through 2025) it has paid a cash dividend of 20% of the share's face value — that is 2 taka per share, since the face value is 10 taka. That kind of steady, unbroken record is exactly what income-minded shareholders look for.

The payout also looks safe today. The company earned about 6.41 taka per share in its latest year but pays out only 2 taka, so the dividend uses only about a third of its profit. That leaves a comfortable cushion — the profit does not have to stretch to cover the payment, and there is room to keep paying even in a softer year.

One thing to keep in perspective: the dividend amount has stayed flat at 2 taka a share for years, even as profit per share grew. So this is a steady, dependable dividend rather than a fast-rising one. (How much income that 2 taka represents against the price you pay — the yield — is shown live beside this report.)

Apex Foods does not appear to have a strong competitive edge. The clearest sign is how little profit it earns on what it owns: each share carries about 126 taka of net assets but earns only about 6.41 taka a year, which is a low return on that large base. A company with a real edge — a strong brand or pricing power — usually earns much more on its assets than that.

The peers in this sector show the gap. Stronger consumer names earn far more on every 100 taka of owners' money — for example Olympic earns roughly 17 taka, Unilever Consumer Care about 27 taka, and British American Tobacco Bangladesh about 30 taka, while Apex Foods earns only a few taka. Several of those peers were also growing their profit per share in the latest year, whereas Apex Foods is working hard just to hold its ground on falling sales.

What Apex Foods does have going for it is durability rather than dominance: a very long time on the market (listed since 1981), no debt, and sponsors who own a majority of the company (about 53%), which ties the owners' interests to the business. That is a steady, aligned setup — but it is not the same as a powerful edge.

• No debt, growing cash: The company owes essentially nothing and had built its cash up to about 10 crore taka by 2024, so it can ride out a weak year without pressure from lenders.
• A dependable dividend: It has paid a 20% cash dividend (2 taka per share) every year from 2021 to 2025, and that payout now uses only about a third of its profit.
• Profit has grown and margins improved: Profit per share is up about 210% from its 2021 low, and operating profit rose even in years when sales fell — a sign the business runs leaner than it used to.
• Owners are invested: Sponsors and directors hold about 53% of the shares, so management's interests are closely tied to shareholders'.
• Long survivor with a solid rating: Listed since 1981 and carrying a solid long-term credit rating, it has proven it can last through tough cycles.

• Sales are shrinking: Revenue fell from about 351 crore taka in 2022 to about 203 crore taka in 2024. A business whose top line keeps sliding cannot lift profit forever by cutting costs alone.
• Low return on its assets: Each share sits on about 126 taka of net assets but earns only about 6.41 taka a year — a weak return that trails stronger food-sector peers by a wide margin.
• Bumpy profit and lumpy cash flow: Profit per share jumped to 8.91 taka in 2023 then fell to 5.66 taka in 2024, and operating cash flow dropped sharply that year (to about 14 crore taka from about 47 crore taka) — the numbers swing a lot from year to year.
• An auditor caution: The company's auditor added a special "emphasis of matter" note to its 2025 audit report, which is a flag worth reading directly before relying on the accounts.
• Very small company: With only about 0.57 crore shares and a small size, it is a minor company that can be easily overlooked and whose results can move sharply on small changes.

Apex Foods is a safety-first, income-style company rather than a growth story. If you like a business with no debt, a long history, a steady cash dividend, and owners who have real skin in the game, it ticks those boxes. It is the kind of small, quiet company that keeps paying its 2 taka a share and does not take big risks.

The honest caveat is growth. Its sales have been drifting down for a couple of years, it earns only a modest return on its large asset base, and its profit and cash flow can be bumpy from year to year. Add the auditor's note of caution on the latest accounts, and this is clearly a "keep an eye on it" business rather than a set-and-forget one.

So it suits a patient, income-minded investor who is comfortable with a small, slow-moving company and mainly wants a dependable dividend and a clean balance sheet. Someone chasing fast-growing sales or a strong market-leading brand will likely find better fits elsewhere. As always, the live value estimate and today's signal beside this report will tell you where the price stands right now.