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Home ›› 12 May 2023 ›› Stock
British American Tobacco (BAT) Bangladesh witnessed a robust revenue of nearly Tk 10,000 crore in the just concluded January-March quarter of the year 2023, against which the multinational firm made a profit of Tk 456 crore.
As per its unaudited financial statements, the maker of Benson and some other prominent cigarette brands recorded revenues of Tk 9,899 crore in the first quarter of the current year, up 13 per cent from the revenue of Tk 8,767 crore in the same quarter last year.
Meanwhile, the publicly traded company’s net profit of Tk 456 crore made in the January-March period this year was 9.35 per cent higher than the profit of Tk 417 crore in the same period of 2022.
The country’s top cigarette manufacturer in an official filing with the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) on Thursday said its earnings grew significantly because of volume growth and higher leaf exports.
In line with an expansion move, the large-cap company also informed the same day that it was going to invest Tk 60.70 crore in pursuit of the incorporation of some necessary equipment.
The market leader of the country’s tobacco industry will use the capital for the purchase of winnower tobacco recovery equipment, hinge-lid maker and packer lines, and a centralised uninterrupted power supply device.
The fresh investment would exponentially enhance the company’s capacity and productivity, the DSE filing said, adding that the new investment capital would be sourced from internal sources and bank financing.
The cigarette manufacturer’s earnings per share (EPS) rose to Tk 8.44 for the January-March quarter of the current year from Tk 7.73 for the same quarter last year.
Its net operating cash flow per share (NOCFPS) was Tk 2.09 negative for the first quarter of 2023 against Tk 6.11 for the January-March quarter of 2022.
The company in its first quarterly financial report said the NOCFPS got shrunk year-on-year in Q1 of the current year due mainly to higher payments of VAT, SD, HDSC, and tax.
The multinational’s net asset value (NAV) per share was Tk 74.71 as on March 31, 2023, which was Tk 60.86 till March 31 last year.
BAT Bangladesh had paid a total of 200 per cent cash dividends to its shareholders for the year ended in December 2022, the lowest since 2015.
The listed multinational company made Tk 1,787 crore in net profit in 2022, compared to Tk 1,497 crore in 2021. Its 2022 profit was up 37.47 per cent from the profit outlay of Tk 1,089 crore in 2020.
Riding on the solid business growth, BAT Bangladesh’s earnings per share had surged to Tk 33.1 at the end of the year 2022 from Tk 27.72 the year before.
Despite a solid year-on-year profit growth in 2022, the Dhaka Stock Exchange’s billion-dollar market-cap company’s investors had received less-than-expected dividend payouts for the year.
It had disbursed a 275 per cent cash dividend for the year 2021, 600 per cent for 2020, 400 per cent for 2019, 500 per cent for 2018, 600 per cent for 2017, 600 per cent for 2016, and a 550 per cent cash dividend for 2015.
BAT shares have been at the floor price of Tk 518.70 per share on the DSE trading board since September 7 last year.
BAT Bangladesh manufactures a wide array of tobacco products, namely Benson & Hedges, John Player Gold Leaf, Capstan, Star, Royals, Lucky Strike, Derby, Pilot, Flag, and Hollywood.
It was listed on the Dhaka Stock Exchange in 1977.
Headquartered in Dhaka, the company has cigarette factories in Dhaka and Savar. Besides, it operates a green leaf threshing plant in Kushtia and a green leaf re-drying plant in Manikganj.
