Walton posts Tk. 250 crore profit despite dollar price hike

Walton Hi-Tech Industries PLC., listed in the engineering sector in the capital market of Bangladesh, recorded profit of Tk. 250 crore in the first nine months of the financial year 2022-23. Its business is thriving despite adverse conditions like the global economic recession and geopolitical crisis which led to dollar price hike.

The latest unaudited financial report of the company revealed this information. According to a published report, the company`s earnings per share (EPS) for the period ended March 31 of the current financial year stood at Tk 8.25.

However, Walton Hi-Tech had to sacrifice lion portion of its profit due to the high price of US dollars. During the current financial year, the company faced a financial loss of foreign exchange equivalent to Tk. 392.74 crore due to the depreciation of the Bangladeshi currency against the US dollar, which was only 44.18 crores in the same period of the previous financial year.

At the end of the current financial year`s third quarter, the company`s total financial expense was Tk. 604.79 crore, which was only Tk. 149.60 crore in the same period of the previous financial year. As a result, though the business of Walton is thriving, the dollar price has grabbed a major portion of the company`s profit.

Omar Faruk Ripon, Chief Financial Officer of Walton Hi-Tech Industries PLC., said that the company would register the profit of Tk. 622 crore in this period and EPS would be Tk. 21 if the dollar price did not increase.

The cost of raw materials and spare parts along with freight charges increased drastically in the international market after the Russia-Ukraine war began in February last year which led to dollar price hike. The price of 1 US dollar went up to Tk. 110 from Tk. 85 in the banking sector within one year. As a result, most of the listed companies in the stock market had to sacrifice major portion of their profits. Many companies faced losses. However, Walton is overcoming all the adverse business situations by taking various timely initiatives and retained its profit.

As on March 31, 2023, the company`s Net Asset Value Per Share (NAVPS) stood at Tk. 224.57 without revaluation and Tk. 327.84 with revaluation. In this period, the company`s Net operating cash flow per share (NOCFPS) stood at Tk 73.70, which is 550.49 times higher than the same period last year.

The published report revealed that the company NOCFPS for the period ended March 31 of the current financial year was increased due to better control over inventory, improvement of receivables, strong monitoring and control over the company`s all costs and proper utilization of the assets. Besides, significant reduction of payments to suppliers and others compared to the previous fiscal year`s same period also resulted in raising the NOCFPS.

According to market analysts, as Walton is the giant company in the country`s electronics market, it has massive possibilities of registering more profit in the fourth quarter as the demand and sales of electronics products in the country increase remarkably centering the temperature rise and two Eids.