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Unlisted Pelwatte Dairy said yesterday it had made a significant financial turnaround in 2020/’21 recording a huge Profits Before Tax (PBT) that YoY surged by 148%.
Without disclosing exact figures, in a statement the company said in FY21 it has made a profit falling short of the budgeted profit target. The company’s gross profits grew by a strong 180%. In the same period, the Profits Before Tax (PBT) increased by a huge 148%. “This in fact is a major turnaround for Pelwatte since in FY 2019/’20 the company recorded a PBT loss,” the statement added.
Pelwatte is one of the leading dairy brands in Sri Lanka that locally produces a range of dairy products and saves foreign exchange for the country.
Significantly, amid COVID restraints the company succeeded in YoY increasing the total farmers’ base by 16% to 6,500. The company also paid Rs. 3.18 billion to the farmers in 2020/21, which is a 70% YoY increase.
Of the top 10 highest sold product lines, except for three, seven products have shown Year on Year (YoY) growth in 2020/’21.
The product line with the highest sale in 2020/’21 was Pelwatte Full Cream Milk Powder, with a YoY growth of 76%. The product line with the second highest sale was Butter which showed 42% YoY growth while the product line with the third highest sale was Yoghurt, indicating a 49% YoY growth.
Other product lines too indicated a YoY growth rate exceeding 100%. Ghee oil, though at the sixth place among the largest product lines of sale, showed the highest growth among all products in 2020/’21, growing tenfold (a 1070% YoY increase).
Seen from an operational point of view the company strengthened its automation by introducing SAP, the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution which boosted its operational efficiencies thus strengthening its bottom-line in 2020/’21.
Having set up in 2006, Pelwatte Dairy, which specialises in milk processing, animal feed and dairy products is one of the Sri Lankan brands that successfully saves the outflow of foreign exchange for dairy product imports from abroad.
The company is ambitious to develop the dairy cattle husbandry in Sri Lanka with a view to establish a continuous and trustworthy flow of quality raw materials to the dairy industry. An ISO 22000:2018 certified company, Pelwatte Dairy owns one of the most modern dairy factories (designed around Danish technology) that operates in Sri Lankan dairy sector at present.