Singer sees slump in profits

Home appliance maker and marketer Singer Bangladesh Ltd saw its profits fall by half in the first quarter of the ongoing calendar year as it had to pay an increased amount of taxes during the period.

This is because of a change in the company's sales mix of traded and produced goods, the multinational brand said in its financial statement for the January-March period of 2022.

Singer said its net profit declined by nearly 50 per cent year-on-year to Tk 9.12 crore in the first quarter.

Accordingly, its earnings per share dropped to Tk 0.91 at the same time while it was Tk 1.81 during the January-March period a year ago.

Shares of Singer declined 1.98 per cent to Tk 168.5 yesterday at the Dhaka Stock Exchange.

The home appliance maker also suffered a fall in its gross profit and operating profit as its cost of sales increased higher than overall sales.

Singer, which recorded Tk 1,581 crore in sales in 2021, said its turnover grew 4 per cent year-on-year to Tk 391 crore in the January-March period of 2022.

Its cost of sales rose 7 per cent during the period, according to the financial statement.

Singer last month said it would invest Tk 680 crore to establish a manufacturing facility in order to increase its capacity to cater to the growing domestic market for home appliances.

In its latest annual report, the company said its net profit dipped 35 per cent to Tk 51.8 crore in 2021 from Tk 80 crore the previous year.

With 1,697 employees, Singer has 437 retail outlets and 1,092 dealers across the country.