Dipped Products achieves highest turnover of Rs. 46.39 billion despite pandemic

Dipped Products PLC (DPL), a global leader in protective handwear and a subsidiary of Hayleys PLC, has delivered phenomenal growth in an extraordinarily challenging year to achieve the company’s highest turnover and profitbefore-tax in the financial year ending 31st March 2021.

The DPL Group’s turnover increased by 52 percent to Rs.46.39 billion while profit before tax (PBT) increased to Rs.7.19 billion during the year.

Commenting on the performance, Dipped Products and Hayleys PLC Chairman, Mohan Pandithage said, “DPL’s performance attests to its resilience and adaptability to rapidly changing dynamics, particularly in an unprecedented year such as 2020/21 which led to dramatic shifts in how organisations operate”.

“The performance of the year is driven primarily by the Hand Protection sector which demonstrated extraordinary agility in navigating the complexities stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. The sector delivered a revenue growth of 70 percent to Rs.30.41 billion supported by increased capacity utilisation driven by relentless focus on process efficiencies and productivity coupled with capacity expansion and acquisition of new customers. As prevalent conditions led to disruptions in supply chains, DPL leveraged on the strength of its relationships with local farmers through the DPL Firstlight programme to secure continued access to raw materials, thereby ensuring consistent value injection across the rural economy. The Plantation sector also performed commendably,” the company said in a media release.

Meanwhile, the Hand Protection sector delivered a significant growth in PBT during the year, as margins improved supported by operating efficiencies across manufacturing operations and increased contributions from high-value products. Dipped Products (Thailand) Ltd and ICOGUANTI, the marketing arm based in Italy, also delivered strong growth supported by increased customer penetration.

Managing Director of DPL, Ng Soon Huat attributed the sector’s superior performance to relentless efforts by the DPL team to ensure continuity of operations despite the many challenges that prevailed. “Our employees rallied together in delivering the Group’s strategy, which enabled us to effectively cater to the increase in demand for gloves during the year”.