Avarga Q3 earnings sink 12.1% to S$7.8m

MAINBOARD-LISTED Avarga Limited posted a 12.1 per cent fall in net profit for the third quarter to S$7.8 million from S$8.9 million the preceding year primarily due to decreased gross margin dollars of building products business of Taiga Building Products Ltd, the group said in a Singapore Exchange filing on Friday morning.

Earnings per share slid to 0.89 Singapore cent from 1.03 Singapore cents in the preceding year on a larger share base due to new shares issued.

Avarga, formerly known as UPP Holdings Limited, also retrospectively adjusted its net profit for Q3 2017 to reflect the fair values of assets and liabilities of Taiga upon finalisation of the purchase price allocation exercise in January 2018.

For the three months ended Sept 30, revenue for the company slid 2.5 per cent to S$436.3 million from S$447.3 million the previous year.

Of which, revenue from the building products business of Taiga for the third quarter decreased 3 per cent to S$419.1 million from S$430.6 million over the same quarter last year.

Meanwhile, revenue from the paper mill business for the period ended Sept 30 increased 4 per cent to S$14.7 million from S$14 million over the same quarter last year.

Net asset value per share crept up to 23.06 Singapore cents as at Sept 30, from 22.64 Singapore cents nine months ago.

No dividends have been declared or recommended for the current reporting period.

Avarga Limited shares closed flat at S$0.199 on Thursday.