BPPL Holdings April-June ’20 struggle amidst Corona troubles  

BPPL Holdings in its quarterly results for the 3-month period April to June 2020 said that demand for brushware remained strong during the April to June quarter as the cleaning sector was declared an essential service by most governments around the world but COVID-19 killed their drive.  
“All our brush customer orders, received during the quarter, could not be completed and delivered by quarter-end as a result of this closure. We are only likely to complete delivery of the order backlog in the subsequent July to Sept. ’20 period,” Dr. Anush Amarasinghe, Managing Director BPPL said in his statement.
BPPL orders were robust from the home improvement sector as most homeowners spent time working on their homes and gardens during the period and this demand helped off-set the slowdown from the food services sector due to the closure of restaurants during the lockdown.
Net earnings for the quarter were Rs.60 million or Rs. 0.19 per share, down 39 per cent compared to the corresponding period in the previous year where the net earnings were Rs.98 million or Rs. 0.32 per share.
“Our polyester yarn operations, however, were severely impacted by the pandemic as most global sportswear brands that we primarily serve had to close down all their retail stores across the world,” Dr. Amarasinghe added saying that BPPL lost deliveries for most of the Autumn/Winter ’20 season. Orders though are now being placed for deliveries from July’20 for the Spring/Summer ’21 season.
Consolidated revenue for the period was Rs.590 million, down 9 per cent over the corresponding period in the previous year. Lower gross margins stemming from factory closures, higher depreciation and deferred tax charges due to the yarn machinery following the commencement of commercial operations in the previous quarter and a 2 per cent hike in corporate tax rates contributed to lower net earnings for the quarter. (DEC)