Lockdown drags Singer’s quarterly business
Like most of the retailing businesses, Singer is posting low sales and profits in the quarters when their production, logistics and sales face disruptions amid lockdowns
Lockdown in July and August dragged down Singer Bangladesh's sales and profits for the July-September or the third quarter.
The company registered Tk460 crore in sales over the third quarter, significantly down from that over the same period a year ago.
It was due to the government imposed lockdowns that lasted up to August 10, according to the company's notes in its quarterly statement.
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Over the July-September quarter of 2020, there was no lockdown to curb the pandemic as infection and death rates declined following a strict long shutdown in the previous quarter.
Dropped sales also pushed the multinational consumer electronics and home appliance company's net profits for the July-September quarter this year to Tk12.7 crore from Tk42.6 crore over the same quarter a year ago.
Like most of the retailing businesses, Singer is posting low sales and profits in the quarters when their production, logistics and sales face disruptions amid lockdowns.
Its sales for January-March quarter increased to Tk375 crore from Tk303 crore over the corresponding quarter of 2020. Since in none of the first quarters the company seriously faced any lockdown, it demonstrated its natural growth.
But the first wave of Covid-19 and the 66-day long nationwide shutdown up to the end of May 2020, dragged the company's sales to below Tk300 crore in April-June quarter of 2020.
Since the company faced less disruption over the same quarter this year, second quarterly sales spiked to near Tk500 crore.
On its way of recovery this year, half-yearly sales were up to Tk871 crore, from Tk601 crore in the first half of 2020.
And, that jump offset the year-on-year drop in the third quarter as over the first nine months Singer's total sales of nearly Tk1,332 crore was higher than that of Tk1,226 over the January-September period of 2020.
However, the company's earnings per share (EPS) saw a year-on-year decline for both the third quarter and first nine months of the year.
Third quarterly EPS dropped to Tk1.28 from Tk4.28 a year ago, while the half-yearly EPS jump helped the company minimize its EPS drop to Tk5.97 for the January-September period from Tk6.29 a year ago.
Singer is the oldest electronics and home appliance company present in Bangladesh. Most of its products are selling well in the pandemic as people have been prioritizing their purchase of electronic appliances to stay home with more convenience.
