Singer Bangladesh Limited announced its unaudited results for the first quarter ended on March 31.
According to the press release, the highlights are:
- Q1, 2023 turnover decreased to Tk3.7 billion compared to the previous year's Tk3.9 billion, degrowth of 4.4%. Overall electronic home appliances industry had declined due to different global and local challenges. Nonetheless, the company persisted in implementing several marketing strategies throughout the quarter to boost sales.
- Q1, 2023 Gross profit increased by 4.2% from the previous year. This was driven by an increase in gross profit margin in the major product category.
- Continued to focus on managing operating expenses, which was 19.7% vs 16.5% mainly due to higher shop operating expenses, inflationary salary increment, lease depreciation and increase in insurance cost.
- Financial Expenses are higher than last year mainly to the utilization of borrowing at higher interest rates. The average interest rate has increased by more than 1% compared to last year.
- Profit after tax increased from Tk91.2 million to Tk112.3 million in 2023, with earnings per share increasing from Tk0.91 to Tk1.13.
- The effective Tax Rate is lower than last year due to lower contribution from sales of CBU against which the advance income tax was paid at the port as the minimum tax liability.
- Net operating cash flow per share stands at Tk10.11 which was Tk13.14 in the previous year.
Throughout the quarter, the cost of sales experienced a significant increase, driven by rising raw material and freight prices, as well as the devaluation of the Taka against the US dollar and the ongoing crisis in Ukraine. Despite these challenges, Singer's strategy was to maintain competitiveness in the market, considering the price sensitivity of both consumers and competitors. To achieve this, Singer managed to offset some of the costs by adjusting sales prices, resulting in comparatively higher profit during Q1 of 2023.
Singer is strongly present in the appliances market and the operation will further accelerate in the medium to long term.
Singer will work to enhance its already strong market position with its strong brand image by leveraging its global knowledge, expertise and scale.
