Courts Asia's full-year earnings up 247.6%

MAINBOARD-listed Courts Asia Limited reported on Wednesday a 247.6 per cent surge in its full-year net profit to S$23.7 million amid a sustained challenging retail environment in all its operating markets.

For the full year ended March 31, 2017, earnings per share stood at 4.59 Singapore cents, up from 1.29 cents based on a restated figure the year before. Courts said that it adopted a new FRS 115 accounting standard issued by the Accounting Standards Council to its FY16/17 financial statements.

The revenue recognition for credit sales and services under FRS 115 will have an impact on the current year's profit and prior years' retained earnings, which resulted in a restatement of reported earnings for all prior years, including the last comparative year of FY15/16, Courts said.

Revenue for the 2017 fiscal year dipped 1.5 per cent to S$740.5 million. The drop came from its Singapore revenue, which reported a decrease of 2.7 per cent compared to the 2016 fiscal year mainly due to lower sales of goods offset by higher earned service charge income.

A final one-tier tax exempt dividend of 1.29 cents has been declared. Courts closed trading unchanged at S$0.425 on Wednesday.