Gildan Lays Plans for Large-Scale Manufacturing Hub in Bangladesh

MONTREAL-Gildan grows its global footprint with plans to expand into Bangladesh. The company announced the move in its report of first-quarter results on May 1.

Gildan touts expansion into the Southeast Asian country as part of its new initiative to develop large-scale, vertically integrated manufacturing in the region. The company purchased a parcel of land in Bangladesh for the new operation on April 9 for approximately $45 million.

“Our plans consist of the development of a large multi-plant manufacturing complex which is currently expected to include two large textile facilities and related sewing operations,” Gildan says in the report. “Once fully operational, this complex is expected to provide capacity to service $500 million in sales.”

Construction and build-out are expected to span the next 24 months with manufacturing operations beginning at the location in 2021. The build-out of a large-scale operation in the region, Gildan says will “significantly enhance” their “positioning to service international markets and support other key sales growth drivers.”

Amid the earnings, the company also reported a decline in revenues connected to the liquidation of Heritage Sportswear.

“As expected, earnings were down for the quarter versus last year due to anticipated factors, including the impact on sales from lower levels of distributor restocking and higher raw material and other input cost pressures,” the company says. “In addition, the earnings decline reflected a $0.12 per share trade accounts receivable impairment charge primarily related to the wind down of the Heritage Sportswear operations which is under receivership, as previously announced on March 26, 2019.”

The news comes as the company continues to grow its worldwide manufacturing operations. In February, Gildan ramped up its production operations in Honduras at its Rio Nance 6 textile facility.

To see the entire first-quarter earnings report visit http://www.gildancorp.com/documents/Q1_2019_Earnings_Release/Q1-2019-Earnings-Press-Release.pdf.