Berger thrives despite industry slowdown
Defying economic hardships in the July to September quarter of this year, Berger Paints Bangladesh Ltd — the paints market leader — posted year-on-year growth in both revenue and profit for the quarter.
Berger's Director and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Sazzad Rahim Chowdhury told The Business Standard, "We managed to continue selling paints despite the industry's 7-8% decline in terms of volume. Also, a partial upward adjustment of prices helped our turnover grow."
Customer preferences for Berger products, the firm's ability to pass on a portion of the soaring costs to buyers by increasing paint prices, the slight cooling of core raw material prices in the international market in recent months, and cost control, are the main reasons for Berger's business growth in the quarter, he said.
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The multinational that makes up over half of the country's paints market, registered Tk542 crore in revenues, up 21% from Tk449 crore for the same quarter in 2021.
Its net profit after taxes stood at around Tk46 crore, up 12% from Tk41 crore in the July to September quarter of 2021.
In the April to June quarter, a spike in international prices of raw materials was dragging profits, while exchange rate was not a big issue. And, in the July to September quarter, the global price of raw materials corrected slightly while the soaring dollar ate away the benefits, according to Chowdhury.
However, July to September was not a great quarter for business, the CFO feels.
"In June-July, we increased prices 7.6% on average and that helped to partially offset the effect of the soaring dollar," he added.
Both sales and profits were lower in the July to September period compared to the previous April to June quarter.
In the April to June quarter, Berger's earnings per share (EPS) stood at Tk18.91, up from Tk15.44 in the same quarter a year ago.
In July to September, the EPS was Tk9.86, up from Tk8.88 in the corresponding quarter last year.
At the end of September, Berger's net asset value per share stood at Tk224.31.
Berger shares were unchanged at the floor price of Tk1,711.6 each at the Dhaka Stock Exchange on Sunday.
