Qian Hu's Q4 profit more than triples to S$126,000

ORNAMENTAL fish service provider Qian Hu Corporation Limited reported on Friday a fourth-quarter net profit of S$126,000, more than three times from a year ago, as a stronger profit margin and change in contribution from non-controlling interests helped to lift the bottom line.

The mainboard-listed company, which also has other businesses including accessories and plastics, announced that earnings per share for the three months ended Dec 31, 2017 stood at 0.11 Singapore cent, up from 0.03 Singapore cent in the year-ago period.

Net profit attributable to owners of the firm is also impacted by fluctuations due to the non-controlling interests in Qian Hu subsidiaries in Indonesia and Thailand, the company told The Business Times.

Gross profit margin in Q4 2017 was at 31.3 per cent, higher than the 27.4 per cent posted in the year-ago period.

In FY 2017, net profit was up 384 per cent to S$329,000 from the year before.

For Q4 2017, revenue was down 0.3 per cent to S$22 million compared to a year ago, while FY 2017 revenue was up 9.1 per cent to S$87.8 million from FY 2016.

In Q4 2017, sales of fish grew by 9.2 per cent to S$8.7 million due to the improved export performance at its hubs in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia, as sales of dragon fishes grew in tandem with other ornamental fish, Qian Hu said.

However, revenue from the accessories segment fell 6.7 per cent to S$10.5 million in Q4 2017, due to the loss of sales from a delay in the shipment of products to some overseas customers as a result of a change in import regulations.

The company said that these orders will only be delivered in FY 2018 after sorting out import documentations.

The group's plastics segment also fell 1.6 per cent to about S$2.9 million in Q4 2017.

Separately, Qian Hu said on Friday that it is "not the appropriate time" to make a decision on the options available to meet the minimum trading price (MTP) exit criteria following its entrance into the Singapore Exchange's MTP watch-list since June last year.

The company did however, manage to hit the MTP of S$0.20 by trading at about S$0.205 in November 2017 and has since traded above the MTP.

Qian Hu closed unchanged at S$0.23 on Friday.