Apex Footwear thrives despite high inflation

Apex Footwear Limited has reported a 42% growth in both revenue and profit in the first half of the current 2022-23 fiscal year, unlike most other listed manufacturing companies that were struggling to make a profit amid decade-high inflation in the country.

According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, the annual inflation rate in the country was reported at 9.05% for the year 2022 – the highest in the past one decade – which was 6.15% in the previous year.

Besides inflation, crises of energy and dollar, raw material shortages, and freight cost hikes amid a Ukraine war-induced volatility also caused the economy to suffer.

For all these reasons, most listed manufacturing companies were struggling to make a profit in the first half of FY23.

But Apex Footwear stands out of the crowd, with its revenue jumping by 42% to Tk801 crore and net profit soaring by 42% to Tk6.77 crore year-on-year in the July-December period.

Dilip Kajuri, deputy managing director and chief financial officer at Apex Footwear told The Business Standard, "We made 16.02% more profit from our exports because of the high value of the dollar."

"Also, sales volume in the local market went up because of our discounts on shoes," he added.

The company said in its financial report filed on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) that its profit has increased as exports and local sales surged to a good extent even after an increase in most of the expenses including TDS (tax deducted at source) on export proceeds.

However, another listed footwear manufacturer Fortune Shoes Limited's profit dropped 40% YoY in the first half of the fiscal year. But the October-December quarter was the most shocking period for the company as it faced a 91% drop in profit during the period as compared to a year ago.

But Apex Footwear's profit jumped 87% during the quarter.

The last trading price of Apex Footwear shares was Tk259.10 each on the DSE on Wednesday, which was 0.62% higher than the previous day.