LY Corp posts 17.8% rise in FY17 net profit

MALAYSIAN furniture maker LY Corporation on Monday posted a 17.8 per cent increase in full-year net profit to RM51.2 million (S$17.2 million) from RM43.4 million last year, on the back of higher revenue.

A one-tier, tax exempt dividend of 0.78 Singapore cent has been declared for the period, compared to no dividend in the preceding year.

The company was incorporated in Singapore in October 2016, and made its debut on the Singapore Exchange's Catalist board on Jan 31 this year, at 28.5 Singapore cents apiece. Prior to its listing, LY Corporation also undertook a restructuring exercise to "streamline the group's corporate structure".

On Jan 16, the company's 40 million shares were sub-divided into 426,720,000 shares in a share split. An additional 62,424,200 shares were issued on Jan 29 in connection with its initial public offering.

Assuming that the group's restructuring exercise and share split had been completed as at Jan 1, 2016, earnings per share (EPS) for FY17 would be 10.46 sen, up from 8.88 sen last year.

However, excluding these events, EPS stood at 1.28 sen in FY17, compared to 1.09 sen the previous year.

For fiscal year 2017, the group's revenue was up by 22 per cent to RM350.6 million, mainly due to greater sales of its 40-ft containers, as demand from the US rose, LY Corporation said.

The group added that there was an "increase in the average selling price per 40-ft container from RM51,000 in FY16 to RM53,000 in FY17", due to a hike in the selling prices of certain furniture models.

Shares in LY Corporation traded down 1.59 per cent, or 0.5 Singapore cent to 31 Singapore cents apiece on Monday.