Best Holdings financial analysis: EPS BDT 0.30, finance cost up six-fold, no FY2025 dividend (Oct 2026)

Investment considerations: a revalued hotel asset with EPS of BDT 0.30, rising interest and no dividend

Best Holdings PLC (BHPLC, listed as BESTHLDNG) owns Le Méridien Dhaka, an upper-upscale hotel next to Dhaka airport operated by Marriott International under a management contract signed in 2012; the hotel opened on 15 November 2015 [2 p.24]. It also owns the Le Méridien commercial floors, which it rents out, an agro, dairy and fisheries business on its project land at Bhaluka (Mymensingh) and Noakhali, and a pipeline of hotel projects under construction [1 p.29] [1 p.39]. All FY2025 revenue came from the parent company; the subsidiaries IconX Hotels Ltd (51.61% owned) and Dhamshur Economic Zone Ltd (57.25%) are still building [1 p.4] [1 p.22].

The company listed in January 2024 after raising BDT 3,500m in an IPO [2 p.48]. Eighteen months later the picture is weaker. In the year to June 2025 net turnover fell 28.6% to BDT 2,435m, finance cost rose from BDT 82m to BDT 493m and net profit fell from BDT 1,411m to BDT 318m, EPS BDT 0.30 against BDT 1.43 [1 p.9]. The board declared no dividend for FY2025 on 30 June 2026 [7]. The accounts were signed on 29 June 2026, a year after the period ended [1 p.7], and the company had not published any FY2026 quarterly report by the time of the press reports on the dividend [11] [12].

Business: one Marriott-run hotel in Dhaka earns 85% of revenue while the group builds more

How the company makes money. Le Méridien Dhaka earns from rooms, food and beverage (restaurants, banquets, weekend dining and food festivals), spa and events; management says room revenue is the base and F&B and banquet are the other major drivers [2 p.36]. Marriott runs the hotel and charges fees and reimbursable costs, BDT 152m in FY2025 and BDT 180m in FY2024 [1 p.39]. Revenue is recognised net of VAT, supplementary duty and city tax [2 p.143]. Next to the hotel, Le Méridien commercial floors earn rent and maintenance charges, BDT 101m in FY2025 [1 p.73]. At Bhaluka and Noakhali the company farms fish, dairy and crops on project land, BDT 357m of sales in FY2025 [1 p.39].

The decade in three phases. Before listing (FY2018-FY2019), the hotel reached BDT 3.7bn of turnover and BDT 1.78bn of profit, but carried heavy bank debt, with finance cost of BDT 228-304m [6 p.8]. In FY2020-FY2022 a private placement raised share capital from BDT 88m to BDT 9.3bn with BDT 16.3bn of share premium [6 p.7] [4 p.7], and a convertible secured bond replaced most of the bank loans; Covid then cut FY2021 turnover to BDT 1,048m [4 p.8]. From FY2022 to FY2024 revenue recovered to BDT 3,411m and the IPO in January 2024 added BDT 3,500m [1 p.9] [2 p.48]. FY2025 broke the recovery.

Why FY2025 broke it. The company and auditor both point to the nationwide unrest of July-August 2024, which 'resulted in lower occupancy levels, reduced customer demand and interruptions to certain business activities' [1 p.18]; the auditor placed this in an emphasis of matter [1 p.3]. Hotel and commercial revenue fell from BDT 2,633m to BDT 2,078m (-21%) and agro from BDT 594m to BDT 357m (-40%), and infrastructure receipts of BDT 184m did not recur [1 p.39]. Management says it has seen 'gradual improvement' after June 2025 [1 p.18], but no later figures are filed.

Competition and demand. Management describes a market where upper-upscale chain hotels compete on location, service and room rates, and names new lodging supply in Dhaka, cheaper select-service hotels and home-sharing as threats to its ability to 'maintain or increase room rates or occupancy' [2 p.128] [2 p.129]. It also notes that hotel revenue is seasonal and exposed to political instability, travel advisories and air-travel disruption [2 p.128]. FY2025 showed that exposure directly: the July-August 2024 unrest cut occupancy and customer demand, and the auditor tested revenue against the hotel's occupancy reports and operating statistics [1 p.18] [1 p.4]. Energy use at the hotel was 9.8m kWh in FY2024, against 12.4m kWh in FY2023 [2 p.47], so utility tariffs are a further cost line, though the accounts do not split them out.

Hotel lines: revenue fell 21%, F&B is not split out, and occupancy, ADR and RevPAR are not disclosed

Occupancy, average room rate and RevPAR. None of the filings in our corpus give these numbers. The FY2024 annual report says revenue grew because of 'higher room rates (avg), enhance occupancy and contribution from other revenue streams such as F&B banquet' [2 p.48], names occupancy, average room rate, RevPAR and EBITDA margin as its KPIs [2 p.51], and quotes only the regional statistic that Asia-Pacific RevPAR was 12% above 2019 [2 p.34]. The FY2025 accounts say only that occupancy was lower [1 p.18]. The auditor compared revenue with 'occupancy reports' [1 p.4], so the data exist. Without them, an investor cannot split the FY2025 revenue fall into rate and volume.

F&B. The accounts do not split hotel revenue into rooms and F&B. What is disclosed: hotel cost of sales (mostly food and beverage) fell from BDT 403m to BDT 320m in FY2025, a smaller fall (-21%) than in the agro business [1 p.39]; hotel inventory at June 2025 was BDT 12.0m of food and BDT 65.4m of beer, wine, liquor and beverages [1 p.30]. Liquor stock rose while food stock fell by two-thirds, consistent with a slower food and banquet business. The hotel's gross margin stayed above 80%: segment gross profit BDT 1,669m on BDT 1,977m of hotel revenue [1 p.73].

Hotel cost lines. Le Méridien and commercial operating expenses fell from BDT 728m to BDT 672m: salaries BDT 97m, Marriott fees and reimbursables BDT 152m, sales and marketing BDT 20m, depreciation BDT 250m [1 p.39]. Marriott fees fell less than revenue, rising from 6.8% to 7.3% of hotel and commercial revenue [16]. Head office cost was BDT 330m, of which BDT 250m was depreciation [1 p.40]. In FY2025 every 1% of hotel and commercial revenue was worth about BDT 21m of turnover against a group pre-tax profit of BDT 460m [1 p.39] [1 p.9].

Agro and other segments. The Bhaluka and Noakhali farms are a land-holding activity more than a business: sales fell to BDT 357m with BDT 121m of segment pre-tax profit, which included a BDT 7.7m fair-value gain on biological assets [1 p.73] [1 p.40]. In FY2022 the company also reported Noakhali sales of BDT 385m and infrastructure receipts of BDT 60m [4 p.73].

Debt: BDT 18.1bn gross, and bond interest moved into the P&L in FY2025

The finance cost jump is the main earnings story. Financial expenses were BDT 23-25m in FY2022-FY2023, BDT 82m in FY2024 and BDT 493m in FY2025 [3 p.9] [1 p.9]. The FY2025 charge is BDT 362m of bond interest, BDT 130m of bank-loan interest and BDT 1m of charges; in FY2024 no bond interest went through the P&L [1 p.40]. The company capitalises borrowing costs on qualifying assets under IAS 23 [1 p.21]; the cash-flow statement shows finance cost paid for investing activities falling from BDT 401m in FY2024 to BDT 64m in FY2025 [1 p.11]. So the change is mostly an accounting reclassification of interest that was already being incurred, and it is likely to persist while the bond is outstanding.

The bond. The convertible secured bond has BDT 6,500m of principal held by Southeast Bank (BDT 2,000m), Mercantile, Trust and NCC Bank (BDT 1,000m each) and ICB (BDT 1,500m), plus BDT 2,462m of accrued interest, up from BDT 2,098m a year earlier [1 p.37]. The cash-flow statement shows BDT 141m of bond interest paid in FY2025 against BDT 362m charged [1 p.11] [1 p.40], so the accrual keeps growing. The Business Standard reported in 2022 that the bond was issued in 2019 to pay off the loan that built Le Méridien Dhaka [14]; the filings show the bond liability since FY2019 [6 p.7].

Bank loans. Long-term loans were BDT 8,394m at June 2025, of which BDT 7,473m sits in IconX Hotels Ltd and BDT 921m in the parent (Bangladesh Infrastructure Finance Fund and Mercantile Bank) [1 p.36]. Short-term loans were BDT 715m [1 p.8]. Management's going-concern note lists 'restructuring and rescheduling of borrowings' among its measures [1 p.18], and the auditor made borrowings and finance cost a key audit matter [1 p.5].

Ratios. Net debt rose from BDT 8.0bn (FY2020) to BDT 17.1bn (FY2025); net debt to equity from 16% to 30%; net debt to EBITDA from 7.6x (FY2024) to 12.3x [16]. Interest cover by operating profit fell from 54x (FY2023) to 1.8x [16]. Equity looks large only because of revaluation: the BDT 22.0bn of reserves are 39% of equity [1 p.36] [16]. History-based sensitivity: in FY2025 each 1pp on the BDT 6.5bn bond principal was worth BDT 65m a year, 20% of net profit [1 p.37] [1 p.9].

IPO and projects: BDT 3.5bn raised, BDT 1.14bn repaid debt, and BDT 18.7bn of hotels still unbuilt

IPO plan. The BSEC approved a BDT 3,500m IPO under the book-building method in 2023; the cut-off price was BDT 35 [13]. Both The Business Standard and The Daily Star reported the use of proceeds from the prospectus: about BDT 1,760m for building and civil works at the Bhaluka hotel project, about BDT 1,156m to repay existing liabilities, and the rest for machinery and equipment and IPO costs [8]. The cash arrived in FY2024: BDT 3,501m received against shares and BDT 126m of IPO expenses charged to share premium [1 p.11] [2 p.167].

What the filings say about use. By 30 June 2024 BDT 1,136.7m had been used to repay debt, which management said cut net bank debt to EBITDA from 128% to 68% [2 p.48]. The FY2025 accounts contain no IPO utilisation statement. The Financial Express reported in December 2024 that the BSEC had opened a probe into fund use by 11 companies, Best Holdings among them, and that the company had used BDT 1.80bn by March 2024 [10]; this is a single-outlet report and we found no outcome in our sources.

Where the money went on the balance sheet. Capital work in progress rose from BDT 3.3bn (June 2023) to BDT 15.0bn (June 2024) and BDT 18.7bn (June 2025) [3 p.8] [1 p.8]. Part of the FY2024 jump is consolidation of IconX Hotels, whose CWIP was BDT 9.3bn then and BDT 11.6bn now [1 p.29]. In the parent, The Muslin, A Luxury Collection at Bhaluka rose from BDT 2,687m to BDT 3,679m, the Le Méridien upgrade (58 extra rooms) from BDT 1,105m to BDT 1,500m, while the Bhaluka luxury villa (BDT 1,388m), the Bashundhara private suite (BDT 288m) and Noakhali (BDT 255m) barely moved [1 p.29]. The FY2025 accounts also refer to a five-star 'Marriott' at Bhaluka (Mawna) [1 p.22].

What this means for the lines. The 58-room extension adds room revenue at Le Méridien once complete; the Bhaluka hotels add revenue and depreciation. Interest capitalised on these projects stops when they open, so finance cost in the P&L rises further unless debt is repaid. No completion dates are given in the FY2025 accounts [1 p.29].

Property: 39% of equity is revaluation reserve, last valued in January 2022

Revaluation history. ACNABIN revalued Le Méridien land and buildings on 22 September 2016, a surplus of BDT 19,086m, and Bhaluka land on 21 September 2017, BDT 2,433m; Hoda Vasi Chowdhury revalued Le Méridien land and buildings again on 5 January 2022 at BDT 42,711m against a carrying amount of BDT 39,238m, a further BDT 3,473m surplus, and found Bhaluka land at its carrying value of BDT 6,452m [4 p.17]. The FY2022 OCI of BDT 2,965m reflects the 2022 revaluation net of deferred tax [4 p.8].

What it means today. Of PPE of BDT 53,185m at June 2025, BDT 25,853m is the written-down revaluation surplus and BDT 27,332m is cost less depreciation [1 p.28]. Le Méridien land alone is carried at BDT 6,010m [2 p.177]. Depreciation on revalued assets is BDT 185m a year and is moved from the revaluation reserve to retained earnings [1 p.36]; deferred tax on the surplus is BDT 3,878m [1 p.37]. NAV per share of BDT 53.57 therefore depends on a 2016/2022 valuation; the last independent valuation is almost four years old, and the hotel's FY2025 operating profit of BDT 672m was 1.6% of the BDT 42.7bn 2022 revalued amount [1 p.73] [4 p.17].

Returns on assets. Operating profit on total assets was 1.9% in FY2023 and 1.1% in FY2025 [16]; ROE on net profit was about 2.6% in FY2024 and 0.6% in FY2025. These are low because the revalued asset base is large against hotel earnings and the projects earn nothing yet.

Cash and related parties: project spend exceeds cash flow, and BDT 1.09bn sits with a related land seller

Cash flow. Operating cash flow was BDT 1,798m in FY2024 and BDT 1,476m in FY2025, but CWIP and PPE additions plus capitalised interest took BDT 3,492m and BDT 1,755m, so free cash flow after project spend was BDT -1,695m and BDT -279m [1 p.11] [16]. The IPO filled the FY2024 gap; FY2025 was funded by running down cash from BDT 1,566m to BDT 1,008m [1 p.11].

Related parties. The largest item is an advance for land to IconX Services Ltd, a company with common directors: BDT 1,128m at July 2024 and BDT 1,088m at June 2025 after BDT 40m was adjusted [1 p.77]. The accounts say BHPLC and IconX Services signed an agreement to purchase the land at fair value [1 p.23]. Smaller items are rent paid to the chairman Amin Ahmad, to nominee director Ummey Kulsum and to sponsor Capital Banani One Ltd (BDT 5.1m), and rent and service charges to IconX Services (BDT 12.9m) [1 p.77]. The Marriott fees are with a third party.

Audit. ARTISAN gave an unmodified opinion with two emphases of matter: the unrest's impact on operations and going concern, and a prior-period error in which an asset (advances) and a liability (advances from different parties) were each overstated by BDT 2,162m from FY2022 [1 p.3] [1 p.23]. Key audit matters were revenue recognition, CWIP of BDT 18,698m, borrowings and finance cost, and consolidation [1 p.4] [1 p.5]. The same firm has audited the company since at least FY2019 [6 p.7] [1 p.7].

Governance and payout: sponsors and state banks own 65%; FY2025 dividend skipped

Ownership. Sponsors and directors own 65.34%: chairman Amin Ahmad 22.97%, Capital Banani One 11.24%, Sonali Bank and Agrani Bank 7.26% each, Rupali Bank 4.36%, Private Infrastructure Development 3.69%, and Hasan Ahmad (managing director), Afra Anjum and Ummey Kulsum about 2.85% each. Institutions own 20.29%, the general public 14.17% [1 p.35]. The IPO lock-in on 18.8m shares ended on 6 February 2026 [7].

Payout. The dividend policy is to pay 'maximum of the net profit after tax depending on the financial health and capital requirement' [2 p.129]. The board recommended 10% cash (BDT 1.00 a share) for FY2024, a payout of 70% of EPS [2 p.129]; the FY2025 equity statement shows BDT 567m of dividends charged, below the BDT 1,059m implied by 10% on all shares, and the accounts do not explain the difference [1 p.36]. For FY2025 the board declared no dividend [7]. The Business Standard and The Financial Express both reported that it was the first year without a dividend since listing and that the AGM date awaited a court order [11] [12].

Market facts. At BDT 13.3 the share trades at 44x FY2025 EPS and 0.25x June 2025 NAV [15] [1 p.8]; at listing the cut-off price was BDT 35 [13]. These are facts about the price, not a view on it.

What's next: overdue FY2026 results, the 58-room extension and the bond

Items already disclosed that move the lines (direction only, no forecast):

Risks: interest, demand and project timing matter most

The risks below are tied to the line each one moves. Against a FY2025 pre-tax profit of BDT 460m [1 p.9], the bond interest alone (BDT 362m) is the dominant sensitivity.

Key questions: hotel recovery, the bond and project completion decide shareholder returns

Ratio summary. Over FY2018-FY2025 gross margin stayed in a 68-79% band, operating margin ranged from 12% (FY2021) to 55% (FY2019) and was 35.7% in FY2025; net margin fell to 13.1% from 37-48% in every other year [16]. Finance cost was 1-4% of revenue in FY2020-FY2024 and 20.2% in FY2025 [16]. Cash conversion (CFO/net profit) was 1.3x in FY2024 and 4.6x in FY2025, flattered by depreciation of BDT 513m and interest accrued but not paid [16] [1 p.28]. Peers: Unique Hotel & Resorts (Westin Dhaka) is the closest listed comparison; we did not rebuild its figures from its filings for this note.

FAQ

What does Best Holdings own?

Le Méridien Dhaka (operated by Marriott), its commercial floors, agro land at Bhaluka and Noakhali, and hotel projects under construction including The Muslin at Bhaluka [1 p.29] [2 p.24].

What was Best Holdings' FY2025 EPS?

BDT 0.30 basic, against BDT 1.43 in FY2024; net profit BDT 318m [1 p.9].

Did Best Holdings pay a dividend for FY2025?

No. The board declared no dividend on 30 June 2026 [7]; FY2024 was 10% cash [2 p.129].

Why did finance cost rise?

BDT 362m of bond interest was charged to the P&L in FY2025 instead of being capitalised; total finance cost was BDT 493m [1 p.40].

Does Best Holdings disclose occupancy or RevPAR?

No figures; the reports describe occupancy and rates only in words [2 p.48] [1 p.18].

Which results does this report use?

Audited accounts FY2018-FY2025 (year to June). No FY2026 quarterly statements had been filed by 31-Oct-2026.

Sources

1. Best Holdings PLC audited consolidated financial statements, year to 30-Jun-2025 (signed 29-Jun-2026) · link · accessed 2026-10-31
2. Best Holdings Limited Annual Report 2023-24 (year to 30-Jun-2024) · link · accessed 2026-10-31
3. Best Holdings Limited audited financial statements, year to 30-Jun-2023 · link · accessed 2026-10-31
4. Best Holdings Limited audited financial statements, year to 30-Jun-2022 · link · accessed 2026-10-31
5. Best Holdings Limited audited financial statements, year to 30-Jun-2021 · link · accessed 2026-10-31
6. Best Holdings Limited audited financial statements, year to 30-Jun-2019 · link · accessed 2026-10-31
7. DSE announcements via AnalystBro events: board meeting 29-Jun-2026, no dividend for FY2025 (30-Jun-2026), lock-in expiry 6-Feb-2026 · link · accessed 2026-10-31
8. The Business Standard, 'Best Holdings allowed to raise Tk350cr through IPO' (2023) · link · accessed 2026-10-31
9. The Daily Star, 'Le Méridien owner gets nod for Tk 350cr IPO' (2023) · link · accessed 2026-10-31
10. The Financial Express, 'Regulator opens probe into 11 cos' failure to utilise funds' (Dec-2024) · link · accessed 2026-10-31
11. The Business Standard, 'Best Holdings' bad year: Dividend skipped as profit down due to political unrest' (2026) · link · accessed 2026-10-31
12. The Financial Express, 'BEST Holdings recommends no dividend as FY25 profit drops sharply' (2026) · link · accessed 2026-10-31
13. The Financial Express, 'Best Holdings IPO Bidding: Cut-off price set at Tk 35' (2023) · link · accessed 2026-10-31
14. The Business Standard, 'Best Holdings to offload share to raise Tk350 crore' (2022) · link · accessed 2026-10-31
15. AnalystBro price data (TradingView feed): DSE:BESTHLDNG daily bars to 29-Oct-2026 · link · accessed 2026-10-31
16. AnalystBro model for this report (workbook tabs below) · link · accessed 2026-10-31