RAK Ceramics to repair its tile plant

RAK Ceramics (Bangladesh) – the country's leading multinational tile manufacturer – is going to renovate its plant as its machinery gets old.

For maintenance and modification, one of its four tile production lines will be closed for three months, approximately from 9 August, according to a disclosure by the company.

Earlier, RAK Ceramics renovated its line-3 in May last year after stopping for 17 days.

Company Secretary Muhammad Shahidul Islam told The Business Standard, "As part of enhancing production capacity, we will renovate Line 1 as its machines have become old."

"As per assumption, some machines in the tiles plant will need to change as they get older, and some will need maintenance to increase production capacity," he added.

He said, "During the maintenance tenure, the production will remain suspended, which will lower production capacity, but it's mandatory to repair the production line."

According to its January to June 2023 financials, RAK Ceramics posted a 0.29% growth in revenue to Tk381.39 crore.

But its net profit declined by 34% to Tk28.52 crore in the six months of 2023.

The company said its gross profit margin has reduced from 29.66% to 25.25% due to the non-availability of adequate gas, an increase in gas and electricity prices, a significantly volatile foreign currency market, disruption of the global supply chain, an increase in all input raw material prices, and shipping freight.

Earlier in 2022, RAK Ceramics reported a 26% fall in net profit due to production hampered by the gas crisis.

The company said in its financial statement that sales revenue rose by 9% to Tk745.34 crore in 2022, but net profit decreased by 26% to Tk67.15 crore.

Meanwhile, the UAE-based multinational company declared a 10% cash dividend to its shareholders for 2022.