A fast-growing IT company whose sales have nearly doubled in five years — but its profit, per-share earnings and dividend have all been shrinking, and its borrowing has climbed.

Genex Infosys PLC is a Bangladeshi information-technology (IT) company. It joined the Dhaka Stock Exchange in 2019, so it is still a fairly young listed company — about seven years on the market. Its financial year ends in June.

By the usual size measures it is among the larger members of the IT group. It has about 12 crore shares, paid-up capital of 120.5 crore taka and accumulated reserves of 173.0 crore taka. In the latest financial year it earned revenue (total sales) of 191.3 crore taka — up from 102.3 crore taka five years earlier.

The IT sector on the Dhaka exchange is a small group of only about a dozen listed companies. Ownership is majority public: ordinary investors hold 52.88% of the shares, sponsors and directors hold 26.07% (a stake that has been trimmed recently, as some directors transferred shares to banks), institutions hold 20.96%, and foreign holding is tiny at 0.09%.

Genex Infosys makes its money from providing information-technology services. The clearest sign of its business is its steadily rising sales: revenue climbed from 102.3 crore taka in 2021 to 122.0, then 144.3, 185.4 and 191.3 crore taka by 2025 — an increase of about 87% over the five years.

The profit its core operations throw off — its operating profit, before interest and tax — has risen every single year: 43.8, 45.0, 56.2, 68.0 and 72.8 crore taka. So the actual business of selling services is getting bigger and more productive.

The catch is what happens between that operating profit and the final profit for shareholders. In the latest year the business made 72.8 crore taka of operating profit but only 26.1 crore taka of final net profit — a wide and widening gap that usually reflects rising interest on borrowings and taxes. Understanding that gap is the key to understanding this company.

Genex has been profitable in every year we can see, but the trend runs the wrong way. Net profit rose from 33.2 crore taka in 2021 to a peak of 38.4 crore taka in 2023, then fell two years running to 31.6 and 26.1 crore taka. Over the whole 2021–2025 span, net profit is down about 21%.

Per-share earnings tell a sharper version of the same story. Earnings per share went from 3.22 taka in 2021 up to 3.36, then eased to 3.32, 2.62 and 2.17 taka — a fall of about 33% over five years. Part of that drop is because the company handed out bonus (stock) shares in 2021, 2022 and 2023, which split the same profit across more shares.

This is the central tension: sales grew 87% but profit fell 21% and per-share earnings fell 33%. The company is clearly selling more, but for now it is keeping less of each taka of sales for its owners.

On the most-watched safety measure — how much it owes versus how much of its own money it has — Genex looks comfortable. For every 100 taka of its own money (equity), it owes only about 27 taka; that ratio has stayed low, moving from 0.17 in 2021 to 0.27 in 2025. Its own money has grown steadily from 188.1 to 266.3 crore taka.

But two things deserve watching. First, interest-bearing debt has more than doubled, from 31.5 crore taka in 2021 to 72.7 crore taka in 2025, and the company's total loans of 349.3 crore taka are about twice its reserve cushion of 173.0 crore taka. Second, cash on hand is thin — just 7.9 crore taka against total assets of 660.7 crore taka, and it dipped as low as 2.5 crore taka in 2024.

The reassuring part is cash generation. Operating cash flow — the actual cash the business produced — was 82.8 crore taka in the latest year, the strongest in five years and comfortably above the 26.1 crore taka of reported profit. That said, it has been bumpy, dropping to 22.3 crore taka in 2024 before rebounding, so it is not perfectly steady.

Genex has never skipped a dividend, but the size of the reward has shrunk every year. Its cash dividend, measured against the 10-taka face value of the share, went from 10% in 2021 to 11%, then 6%, 3% and just 1% in the latest year. In plain taka per share, that is a fall from about 1.00 taka to 1.10, 0.60, 0.30 and finally only 0.10 taka.

In the early years it also handed out bonus (stock) shares — 10% in 2021, 2% in 2022 and 4% in 2023 — but there have been no bonus shares in the last two years. Notably, the latest 1% cash dividend was paid only to general shareholders, with the sponsors and directors excluding themselves.

On safety, the dividend is easily covered: the company earned 2.17 taka per share and paid out only 0.10 taka, so it is using a tiny slice of profit. That means the payout is in no danger of being unaffordable — but it also shows management is choosing to keep almost all the profit inside the business rather than reward shareholders, which is disappointing for income seekers.

Genex's genuine strength is its size and its fast-rising sales. In a small IT sector of only about a dozen listed companies, it is among the bigger players by revenue, and its sales have grown almost every year — from 102.3 to 191.3 crore taka in five years. Its operating profit has risen alongside, from 43.8 to 72.8 crore taka, so the core operation clearly has scale working for it.

It also keeps a healthy share of its sales as operating profit — 72.8 crore taka of operating profit on 191.3 crore taka of revenue in the latest year — which is a decent showing for a services business. Its asset base has expanded quickly too, with total assets more than doubling from 277.6 to 660.7 crore taka.

The weakness in the 'edge' is quality. Among IT peers, some are growing their earnings while others are shrinking, and Genex's own per-share earnings have been sliding rather than rising. A lasting edge should protect profit, not just sales — so for now its advantage is really about growth and scale, not a genuine barrier that defends its profit.

• Sales are growing fast and steadily — revenue is up about 87% over five years, from 102.3 to 191.3 crore taka, showing real and rising demand for its services.
• Operating profit rises every year — from 43.8 to 72.8 crore taka — so the core business keeps getting bigger and more productive.
• Strong recent cash generation — operating cash flow hit 82.8 crore taka in the latest year, the best in five years and well above reported profit, showing the business produces real cash.
• Debt is still modest — it owes only about 27 taka for every 100 taka of its own money, leaving room to invest or borrow.
• Growing asset value — the value of what it owns per share has climbed from 18.22 to 22.11 taka, and its own money has grown from 188.1 to 266.3 crore taka.

• Profit is falling while sales rise — net profit dropped from a 2023 peak of 38.4 crore taka to 26.1 crore taka, down about 21% over five years even as revenue grew 87%. The company is keeping less of what it sells.
• Per-share earnings down a third — from 3.22 to 2.17 taka, partly diluted by past bonus shares — so each share's slice of profit is shrinking.
• A shrinking dividend — cut every year from 10% to 1% of face value (about 1.00 taka to 0.10 taka per share) — a poor and worsening income record.
• Rising borrowing — interest-bearing debt more than doubled to 72.7 crore taka, and total loans of 349.3 crore taka are about twice the reserve cushion of 173.0 crore taka.
• Thin cash and a 'B' category listing — cash on hand is only 7.9 crore taka against 660.7 crore taka of assets, and the share sits in the 'B' market category rather than the top 'A' group.

Genex Infosys is, at heart, a growth story with a profit problem. Its sales and asset base are expanding quickly and its core operations throw off more cash than ever, but the money actually reaching shareholders — net profit, per-share earnings and the dividend — has been sliding for several years.

It may suit a patient, risk-tolerant investor who believes the rising sales and operating profit will eventually flow through to the bottom line, and who does not need income along the way. It is a poor fit for anyone who wants steady, growing dividend income, because the payout has been cut every year to a token 1% of face value.

The single most important thing to watch is whether profit and per-share earnings stop falling and start following revenue upward, together with the steadily rising debt. Until profit turns, this remains a company that is winning more business but sharing less of the reward — decide with that trade-off firmly in mind.