Home ›› 03 Dec 2021 ›› Front
Five listed companies joined the Tk 1,000 crore-profit band last year as they managed to align fast growth and massive sales in business for years.
Of the companies, three are from local and two belong multinational companies. They are Grameenphone, Walton Hi-Tech, Square Pharmaceuticals, United Power, and British American Tobacco Bangladesh Company (BATBC).
They formed the league with an eye-popping net profit in 2020 when every industry worldwide had taken a huge hit from the coronavirus pandemic.
Grameenphone
This multinational company is the country’s largest mobile phone operator and also the top company by market capitalisation.
Of the listed companies, it is the most profitable one with a net profit of Tk 3,719 crore in the last 2020-2021 fiscal year, up 7.7 per cent recorded a year earlier.
“GP has efficiency in managing solid growth in subscriber acquisition, revenue and net profit with controlled operating expenditure even in a challenging business environment,” said EBL Securities Limited in an analysis.
“Strong brand image and active subscriber base have positioned the company ahead of its rivals,” it said.
Telenor holds 55.8 per cent of the shares at Grameenphone. Local firm Grameen Telecom has a 34.2 per cent stake, while the remaining 10 per cent are in the hands of the institutional and general investors.
Walton Hi-Tech Industries
This company is a local electronic and home appliance giant that offers a range of products such as TV, refrigerators and AC. It booked an impressive 123 per cent rise in net profit at Tk 1,639 crore in the FY21. It is the top profit maker among the local companies.
The Walton has attained an outstanding performance over the years driven by the sale of refrigerators and freezers due to the increased demand for locally manufactured electrical, electronics, and home appliances products, said International Leasing Securities Limited in a report on the company.
Given the product quality and placement and widespread distribution network, Walton has quickly grabbed the market, controlling more than 76 per cent market shares in the local Refrigerator industry due to the availability of refrigerators at an affordable price, it said
Walton’s sales and profit jump— the sign of consumer demand in the pandemic, said, industry people.
Square Pharmaceuticals
The company is the country’s leading drug maker and a subsidiary of the business conglomerate Square Group. Its net profit stood at Tk 1,594 crore in the FY21, which was Tk 1,295 crore in the previous year.
It is the second biggest profit-making company among the local companies. It witnessed a bumper sale in the last year due to the higher demand for hygienic products in both the local and foreign markets during the pandemic.
“This is a miraculous situation, “ said its Managing Director Tapan Chowdhury in the annual report.
“Here lies the effect of the efforts by the management team as well as the entire workforce,” he said.
Despite a full year of Covid-19 devastating effects by the second wave, the growth indicators of every critical parameter show signs of positive growth, said its Chairman Samuel S Chowdhury.
Square Pharma exports its medicines to over 45 countries and exported an amount of Tk 150 crore in the FY21.
United Power Generation and Distribution Company Limited, an independent power producer, made Tk 1,111 crore in net profit, a jump of per cent in the same period a year ago when the figure was Tk 607 crore.
The major activity of the power company is to generate electricity by two gas-fired power plants, one at Dhaka EPZ with 88 MW capacity and the other at Chattogram EPZ with 72 MW capacity.
BATBC
The multinational tobacco manufacturer posted a net profit of Tk 1,089 crore in 2020, a rise of 36 per cent from Tk 925 crore recorded in 2019.
“Despite the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, the company performed up to our expectations,” said BATBC Chairman Golam Mainuddin in the annual report.
“On the business front, sales and distribution were extremely challenging during the lockdown period, yet we explored alternative distribution models to ensure product availability, wherever possible,” he said.
