Walton Hi-Tech Park gets 12-year tax exemption
The Bangladesh Hi-Tech Park Authority had earlier recognised the company as a private high-tech park
Bangladesh's electronics giant Walton Hi-Tech Industries Limited has received an exemption from income tax for 12 years.
The Bangladesh Hi-Tech Park Authority had earlier recognised the company as a private high-tech park.
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has followed the hi-tech park authority's decision and it will help the company get exemption from tax, VAT, and import duty.
Walton has built the factory in Gazipur as a high-tech park.
In the last fiscal year, officials from the high-tech park authority and NBR visited the factory and they were satisfied that the company fulfilled all requirements to get recognition as a private high-tech park.
From this fiscal year, Walton will not pay any income tax for the next 12 years as a park developer and investor, which will increase the company's profitability.
In the last fiscal year, the company paid Tk215 crore as income tax.
Abul Bashar Howlader, additional managing director of Walton, told The Business Standard, "We have recently received the recognition from the authorities concern, which takes effect this year."
On Wednesday evening, the company announced the business performance for its first quarter of the current fiscal year.
According to its unaudited financial report, the company's sales grew 9.47% to Tk1,721 crore but the net profit dropped 30% to Tk281 crore compared to the same quarter a year ago.
At the end of the July-September quarter, its earnings per share stood at Tk9.28, down from Tk13.38 a year ago.
Abul Bashar Howlader said, "We could not reach the growth expectation due to the July-August Covid-19 lockdown. At the same time, raw material cost increased, which affected the company's profitability."
During the same quarter, its competitor Singer also witnessed a 26% drop in sales to Tk460.59 crore and the net profit declined 70% to Tk12.72 crore.
Singer said in its quarterly un-audited statement, overall lower sales along with higher payments for costs and expenses have forced to decrease the profit.
Meanwhile, in the last fiscal year, Walton paid a 250% cash dividend to its shareholders and reported a 70% growth in sales to Tk6,994 crore and the net profit also jumped 126% to Tk1,639 crore.
But its share price decreased 9% in the last month and on Thursday its share closed at Tk1,183 at the Dhaka Stock Exchange.