RESTAURANT operator No Signboard on Tuesday (Nov 28) posted a net loss of S$423,205 for the third fiscal quarter ended June, significantly narrower than the net loss of about S$1.3 million in the corresponding year-ago period. 

This took the company’s losses for the nine-month period to about S$1.2 million, versus S$2.2 million in the year ago.

The latest financial update comes just days after the group announced its financial results for the first half of the year on Nov 23. 

Revenue for the quarter was down 36.9 per cent to S$625,308 from S$991,106. For the nine months so far this fiscal year, the group said it had no sales contributions from certain seafood restaurants due to the closure of its Vivocity and Esplanade outlets in November 2021 and March 2022. 

The group said there were also no sales from quick-serve restaurants for the year to date due to the closure of its Mom’s Touch outlets, and the subsidiary Hawker QSR which was placed under voluntary creditors’ liquidation in February last year. 

The group’s top line also took a hit from Danish Breweries being put under voluntary creditors’ liquidation, and lower sales from its remaining outlets – Little Sheep Hotpot at Orchard Gateway and nosignboard Shen Jian at Northpoint – due to lower consumer demand. 

GET BT IN YOUR INBOX DAILY

Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox.

Sign UpVIEW ALL

Despite the weaker revenue, bottom line figures were buoyed by declines in raw materials and consumables used and a fall in inventories. Other factors that helped the group narrow its losses included lower depreciation and amortisation expenses and impairments of plants and equipment. 

Looking ahead, No Signboard said it expects the operating environment of the local food and beverage industry to remain challenging in the next 12 months, due to higher operating and manpower costs that will adversely hit profit margins. 

The company said its “urgent priorities” are to complete its restructuring exercise and the proposed investment, and to resume the trading of its shares on the Singapore Exchange “as soon as possible”. 

“In the meantime, the group is preserving its cash to support working capital requirements, continue to keep operating costs low and to ensure that the group has sufficient resources to tide through this period,” No Signboard added.