Walton beats pre-shutdown performance but suffers from seasonality

Walton Hi-Tech Industries Ltd, the largest consumer electronics and home appliance maker of the country, has beaten its pre-shutdown performance in the July-December period of the year 2020. 

Despite year-on-year growth in sales and profits in the October-December quarter, the king of Bangladesh's refrigerator market suffered a 30% quarter-on-quarter decline in sales and 39% decline in profits. 

Business of refrigerators and air conditioners (ACs) are seasonal as people tend to install ACs during summer and buy refrigerators in Eid festivals, said Partha Protim Das, company secretary of Walton. 

Peak season for both the segments were in the previous quarters and each year, the company's sales face a quarter on the quarter decline in winter. 

The company posted a revenue of Tk1,092 crore in the October-December quarter, up from Tk954 crore over the same period a year ago, but significantly down from Tk1,572 crore over the July-September quarter of 2020. 

In the second quarter of the current fiscal year, Walton's other products such as television sets and home appliances were selling a lot, according to Partha Protim.

Exports are also gradually improving following a pause during the nationwide shutdown in the March-May period of 2020, he added.  

Because of the losses in the shutdown period, the company's annual profit dropped by more than 40% in fiscal 2019-20. 

However, the non-seasonal segments and exports together helped Walton grow in the second quarter compared to that of the same quarter a year ago. 

In the second quarter, Walton reported Tk244.6 crore in profits, up from Tk159.6 crore for the same quarter of 2019, but down from Tk401.7 crore in the preceding quarter of 2020. 

However, the second quarter helped the company offset the year-on-year decline in the first quarter and the company's sales stood at Tk2,664 crore for the July-December period, a 2% up from that during the same period of 2019. 

"We had some products manufactured before the pandemic but remained unsold for a few months due to the nationwide shutdown. The previous quarters saw the costs of some goods sold in the recent quarters," said the company secretary. 

In the first half of the current fiscal year, Walton posted Tk646 crore in profit, nearly 5% up year-on-year. 

The company also did better in terms of tackling the seasonal impacts this year as quarter-on-quarter decline of both sales and profits came lower in 2020 if compared to that of 2019. 

Walton's earnings per share (EPS) stood at Tk8 in the second quarter, which was Tk5.17 during the same quarter a year ago. 

In the first half, the company posted Tk21.34 in EPS, which was Tk20.34 during the same period of 2019. 

Walton shares closed at Tk1,068.2 each on Wednesday on the Dhaka Stock Exchange.