Leading electronic producer Walton Hi-Tech Industries has reported a slight drop in its quarterly profits at its 25th board meeting on Sunday.
Walton generated earnings worth Tk373.8 crore or Tk12.34 per share during the January-March quarter this year, which is 4.5% lower in comparison to the same quarter last year, according to the price-sensitive information published on the company website.
In a nine-month comparison for the ongoing fiscal year, the company reported earnings of Tk27.07 per share against Tk34.26 per share during the same period in the previous year.
The company board also approved the purchase of land measuring approximately 588.38 decimals at Chandra, Kaliakair, Gazipur for its BMRE project at a cost of Tk44.1 crore.
An equity research analyst refrained from commenting before analyzing the quarterly financial reports of the company.
However, speaking to Dhaka Tribune, Md Rafiqul Islam, company secretary of Walton Hi-tech Industries, pointed out that despite revenue growth in comparison to last year, the profits of the third quarter fell due to the global price hike and shortage of raw materials.
"Everyone in the capital market had seen earning decline to some degree, and naturally that impacted us as well,” Islam said.
“Shipping prices have recently increased as well, increasing our costs, but we could not hike the price of our finished goods till January,” he further said.
According to the company secretary, Walton has already raised the prices of finished goods and the impact of the move will be visible in the next quarter.
“We have been growing continuously, and recently acquired the rights of a fully automated compressor plant that will increase our production capacity to five million units per year, by adding to our current production capacity. This will also help us in establishing significant market share in Europe and other markets around the world, and this current dip will fade away” Islam said.
Walton has acquired a fully automated inverter and non-inverter compatible compressor manufacturing plant that has a capacity of 3.2 million units per year and also procured three European brands
For the continued operation of the acquired brands, Walton has decided to open operational offices in Europe and USA, aiming to capture the global market with the renowned European brands, according to the top brass of Walton.
Walton also won the bid to acquire three European brands ACC, Zanussi Elettromeccanica (ZEM) and Verdichter (VOE) whose trademark, branding rights across 57 countries, as well as R&D intellectual properties- patents, design and software licenses- have now been acquired by Walton.
Through the procurements of these three European brands, Walton will manufacture and globally market various electronics products including compressors, refrigerators, televisions, and air conditioners which are also expected to impact the company’s upcoming financial report positively.
The local home appliance giant currently exports products such as televisions, freezes, air conditioners, compressors and compressor parts to 45 countries in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and America.
Walton was also the first company to start manufacturing refrigerators and freezers in the country in 2008 by importing compressors from the famous Italian brand that it owns now.
Currently, exports account for nearly 20% of its total turnover of Walton.
With nearly Tk7,000 crore turnover in the financial year of 2020-21, the home appliance maker posted a Tk1,639 crore profit after-tax in the same year, which was Tk726 crore the previous year.
Walton Hi-Tech Industries was listed with the bourses in the year 2020.
Currently, the sponsors and directors of the company hold 99.03% of its shares, while institutional investors have 0.35%, foreign investors for 0.10%, and general investors for 0.52%.
Walton stock closed at Tk1,109.30 per share on Sunday at the Dhaka bourse.
