Straco Q1 profit falls 60% to S$3.6m due to two-month suspension of the Singapore Flyer ride

THE two-month suspension of the Singapore Flyer's ride operations due a technical issue in January 2018 took a toll on results for mainboard-listed Straco Corporation in its first quarter.

Net profit plunged 60.1 per cent from S$8.9 million in the year-ago period to S$3.6 million. Earnings per share dropped from 1.04 Singapore cents to 0.41 Singapore cent in the preceding year.

For the three months ended March 31, revenue dropped 31.7 per cent from S$27.5 million in Q1 2017 to S$18.8 million, the developer and operator of tourism-related attractions in Singapore and China said in a filing with the Singapore Exchange on Thursday evening.

Said Wu Hsioh Kwang, the executive chairman of Straco: "It has been a challenging first quarter, due to the technical issue at the Singapore Flyer which required checks and rectifications lasting over two months."

"The outlook of China tourism remain positive, given the rapid development of the tourism ecosystem through social media and mobile payments. As reported, the country will deepen the implementation of integrated tourism this year, and will continue to eliminate illegal tourism businesses and practices, which bodes well for our future development in China," Mr Wu added.

Net asset value per share increased to 31.81 Singapore cents as at March 31, from 31.02 Singapore cents three months ago.

Straco shares ended S$0.005 or 0.6 per cent down at S$0.775 on Thursday.