Apex Weaving goes into lay-off

The management of Apex Weaving Ltd, a listed company, yesterday declared a lay-off due to a production shortfall following an acute gas crisis.
Apex Weaving, a major manufacturer of home textiles and bed sheets, has been suffering inadequate gas pressure over the last year and a half, said Harun-Ar-Rashid, chairman of the company.
It was barely operating at minimum capacity during the time, he added.
"Over the last six months, the company has been paying employees almost without any work, as the gas crisis worsened. If the government ensures an adequate supply of gas, we will be able to restart the factory within three months," he said.
He said at its peak, the company exported goods worth $2.5 million a month, employing 2,000 workers in the factory.
The factory was established in 1996 at East Chandura in Gazipur district.
Iqbal Hassan Mahmood Tuku, former managing director of the factory, said everything was going wrong in the factory in the last few years.
"The factory was reputed to be a major home textiles exporter. But everything changed when some people took over ownership of the factory, without maintaining proper rules," Mahmood, also a former minister, told The Daily Star.
However, Harun-Ar-Rashid, a former MP, denied any management problems in the factory.
On the Dhaka Stock Exchange yesterday, each share of the company was traded between Tk 140 to Tk 137.25 before closing at Tk 138.50, down by 1.07 percent. The face value of each Apex Weaving Ltd share is Tk 100.
It listed on the stock market in 1995 and is now being traded in Z-category, a trading area for poor-performers.
According to the DSE website, the sponsors hold 23.44 percent stake in the company, while public holding is 44.18 percent, institutional stake is 27.22 percent and foreign stake is 5.16 percent.
Meanwhile, the management of Monno Fabrics Ltd also declared lay-off on October 22 last year, on the grounds of insufficient gas pressure to run the factory.