Courts Asia's Q4 net profit down 16.4% at S$6.6m

Singapore

COURTS Asia's net profit for the fourth quarter fell 16.4 per cent, from S$7.8 million to S$6.6 million on the back of revenue dipping 7 per cent from S$207 million to S$192.5 million.

For the full year, net profit dropped 38.7 per cent from S$28.3 million to S$17.4 million while revenue slipped 8.6 per cent from S$830.3 million to S$758.5 million.

This was mainly attributable to the group's cost-efficiency initiatives, which resulted in a one-time impact of S$2.2 million, higher exchange loss of S$1.3 million from Malaysia and the S$5 million loss from Indonesia operations, said Courts Asia.

On the Indonesia front, three stores have been operational since May. The fourth store is expected to be opened by the calendar year-end, which should ensure economies of scale kick in, said the company.

"As we approach festive seasons like Hari Raya or Lebaran Mudik, we expect that sales will pick up, compared to the sequential quarter. That said, given the general weak retail environment, we still expect consumer spending during this period to be fairly moderate in all our markets. As such, we continue to take a cautious approach, particularly for Malaysia when it comes to assessing growth opportunities," said Courts Asia's executive director, group chief executive officer and CEO of Courts Singapore, Terence Donald O'Connor.

The group is currently in discussion with various different parties on different opportunities for entry into a fourth market, amongst which Courts Mauritius is one of them.

The group has proposed a one-tier tax-exempt final dividend of 1.29 S cents per ordinary share, representing a payout ratio of approximately 40 per cent of net profit.

Courts Asia's counter ended trading down half a cent, at 40.0 S cents on Wednesday.