Zhongmin Baihui's sales hurt by long winter, profit drops 10%

ZHONGMIN Baihui Retail Group, which had a trade-with-caution warning issued against its stock in February, announced on Wednesday a 10 per cent drop in net profit for the quarter ended March 31, 2016.

It said net profit fell to 20.4 million yuan (S$4.3 million) for its fiscal first quarter, from 22.6 million yuan the year before. It said this was due mainly "to the seasonal sales pressure from the extended winter in 1Q 2016".

Its revenues slipped one per cent to 229.9 million yuan this year, from 233.3 million yuan a year ago.

Zhongmin Baihui's shares crashed after the Singapore Exchange issued a warning on Feb 5 against the counter; the exchange noted that a small group of apparently connected individuals was responsible for more than 90 per cent of the shares' on-market buying volume.