Walton’s quarterly profits continue to drop

Walton Hi-Tech Industries Ltd posted lower profits again for the third quarter of the current fiscal year compared to the same period of the previous fiscal. 

The company's earnings per share (EPS) stood at Tk12.34 for the January-March quarter, which was Tk12.92 in the same quarter a year ago.

However, among the three quarters of the ongoing fiscal, this is the highest quarterly profit and the lowest percentage decline year-on-year.

Walton's Company Secretary Md Rafiqul Islam told The Business Standard, "Our third quarter revenue grew by 35% year-on-year, which netted 24% revenue growth for the nine months."

"But the cost of raw materials had been soaring globally and as the largest company in the market, Walton did not transfer it all to the customers and that was the main reason behind profit drops this year." 

"However, the entire industry is raising product prices and so is Walton and we expect the profit margin rising trend will continue in the fourth (April-June) quarter to net a better annual performance," he added.

According to Walton's price-sensitive information that was circulated following a board meeting of the company on Saturday, its EPS for the July-March period stood at Tk27.07, against Tk34.26 for the same period a year ago. 

The net operating cash flow per share also slumped to a negative Tk16.36 for the first three quarters, while it was Tk52.24 for the same period of the 2020-21 fiscal year.

Operating cash flow reflects how much cash a company receives over a period versus how much it spends.

Including the revaluation surpluses, Walton's net asset value per share stood at Tk321 at the end of March, which was Tk218 without the asset revaluation surpluses.

Walton shares closed at Tk1,101.3 each on the Dhaka Stock Exchange on Thursday.