Bata witnesses first loss in 59 years of operations in BD

Dhaka : Bata Shoe Company (Bangladesh), one of the country's renowned footwear brands, incurred losses for the first time in 59 years of operations following closure of outlets during the main sales seasons amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The multinational company, which launched operations here in 1962 in the then East Pakistan, saw its sales dip 41 per cent, or BDT 350 crore, year-on-year to BDT 508 crore in 2020 from BDT 857 crore. Despite incurring losses, it announced a 25 per cent cash dividend for shareholders.
Bata, a subsidiary of Bafin (Nederland) BV in the Netherlands that holds a 70 per cent share, incurred losses of BDT 132 crore in 2020 just after logging BDT 49 crore in profits the previous year.
"Bata Bangladesh has been going through a crisis in overall business in 2020, which has pushed the company's earnings down," the company said in its disclosure.
The earnings took a drastic fall due to the loss of retail business during 2020's major festivals -- Eid-ul-Fitr, Eid-ul-Azha, Puja and Pahela Baishakh -- due to a countrywide lockdown following the Covid-19 pandemic.
The festival sales cover 25 to 30 per cent of the company's yearly business.
An estimated 77 per cent of rural business leaders like dealers and/or wholesalers have been particularly impacted due to Covid-19, which led to them losing their business, it said. The company's business went down by 41 per cent in 2020, the disclosure added.