MNCs show mixed EPS trends in January-March

The listed multinational companies (MNCs) showed mixed performance in earnings for the January-March, 2019 compared to the same period in the previous year.
Eight multinational companies, out of eleven listed with the country's capital market, disclosed un-audited financial statements for January-March, 2019 period so far.
Of them, earnings per share (EPS) of four companies rose between 4.64 per cent and 110 per cent while four companies EPS declined up to 61 per cent, according to statistics available with the Dhaka Stock Exchange.
EPS is the portion of a company's profit allocated to each outstanding share of common stock. In short, it serves as an indicator of a company's profitability.
Currently, the multinational companies accounted for 21 per cent of the total market capitalisation of the country's premier bourse, the DSE data shows.
The EPS of Reckitt Benckiser, Marico Bangladesh, Grameenphone (GP) and Linde Bangladesh increased during the period under review.
Reckit Benckiser witnessed the highest EPS surged with a whopping 110 per cent year-on-year in January-March, 2019 quarter compared to the same period in the previous year.
The company's EPS stood at Tk 15.46 for January-March, 2019 as against Tk 7.34 for January-March, 2018.
The company has noted that gross profit increased due to optimization of cost of sales by taking supply initiatives despite adverse impact on foreign currency movements.
Operating profit has increased due to optimization of admin and selling and distribution expenses, it said.
Grameenphone (GP), the largest market cap company, followed next in terms of EPS surged. The lone listed mobile phone company's EPS rose more than 39 per cent.
The largest market cap company's EPS stood at Tk 6.61 for January-March 2019 as against Tk 4.74 for January-March 2018.
Marico Bangladesh's EPS also rose 23 per cent for the year ended on March 31, 2019 as the company's year ended on March 31.
The company also reported EPS of Tk 64.23 for the year ended on March 31, 2019 as against Tk 52.15 for the previous year.
EPS of Linde Bangladesh also increased 4.64 per cent to Tk 18.26 for January-March 2019 as against Tk 17.45 for January-March 2018.
On the other hand, EPS  of Bata Shoe, Heidelberg Cement, British American Tobacco Bangladesh Company and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Bangladesh declined during the period under review.
The EPS of Bata Shoe declined by 61 per cent to Tk 4.94 for January-March 2019, from Tk 12.86 for January-March 2018.
The company's NOCFPS was Tk 8.02 for January-March 2019 as against negative Tk 51.89 for January-March 2018.
The company informed that the change of NOCFPS for year 2017 was due to rearrangement of interest received in cash flow.
In 2018, the company has rearranged interest received under cash flow from operating activities but earlier it was under financing activities as recommended by the auditors. Hence the comparative figure for the year 2017 has been rearranged to conform to current year's presentation.
Heidelberg Cement's EPS also fell 36 per cent to 3.42 for January-March, 2019 due to higher cost of goods sold and administrative expenses and lower financial income.
The NOCFPS also decreased for lower sales collection, increase of supplier payment and more advance tax payment in import stage compared to the same period of 2018.
The company noted that NAV per share increased due to more capital expenditure and increase in inventory compared to the end of December 2018.
The EPS of BATBC stood at Tk 34.32 for January-March 2019 as against Tk 45.82 for January-March 2018, falling 25 per cent.
GlaxoSmithKline's EPS also fell 3.74 per cent to Tk 11.06 for January-March 2019 as against Tk 11.49 for January-March 2018.
Market analysts said brand reputation, well-managed operations, product quality and hefty dividend declaration attracted investors to the multinational companies' shares.
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