AHSAN HABIB and FEDA AL HOSSAIN

Things are improving for international companies running businesses in Bangladesh as consumer demand begins to recover. People are buying more products ranging from paints to tobacco and malted milk drinks. Even though sales have risen, profits have not grown much.

Investment experts view the development as a sign of economic recovery. Multinational companies also expressed optimism about business prospects in the coming months.

According to financial reports by 12 multinational companies, their combined sales grew by 8 percent in the July-September period of this year. By comparison, their sales increased by 1 percent in 2024 and 3 percent in 2023.

However, profitability by the multinationals, which is measured as profit relative to sales, fell in the current fiscal year, due mainly to higher raw material costs and finance charges.

Combined profitability fell from 9.28 percent in the first quarter of 2024 to 8.61 percent in Q1 of FY26, according to the financial reports.

The multinational companies are Grameenphone, British American Tobacco, Robi, LafargeHolcim, Berger Paints, Marico, Singer, Heidelberg Cement, RAK Ceramics, Reckitt Benckiser, Unilever Consumer Care Limited, and Linde Bangladesh.

The companies say their sales were hit last year amid nationwide student-led protests, violent crackdowns, curfews, and the eventual fall of the government.

On the other hand, they say low growth in 2023 was caused by a severe dollar shortage and stubbornly high inflation.

Despite the decline in profitability, the combined profits of the multinationals rose slightly to Tk 1,637 crore in the first quarter of fiscal year 2025-26, up from Tk 1,633 crore in Q1 of FY25.

In these accounts, profits of Linde Bangladesh were excluded due to an exceptionally high one-off gain in the previous year.

Iqbal Chowdhury, CEO of LafargeHolcim Bangladesh, told The Daily Star that high sales growth this year partly reflects the low base from the previous period.

“In some cases, inflation and volume growth also contributed to sales growth, which differs from sector to sector,” he said.

For example, in the cement industry, sales volumes increased He