Duty Free International's Q1 earnings down 24.1%

MAINBOARD-LISTED Duty Free International's (DFI) net profit for the first quarter fell 24.1 per cent to RM15.1 million (S$4.85 million).

Earnings per share for the three months ended May 31, 2017, stood at 1.24 sen, down from 1.76 sen a year ago.

DFI had an effective tax rate of 24.9 per cent for Q1 2018, which was higher than the statutory income tax rate of 24 per cent, due to higher non-deductible expenses related to an unrealised foreign-exchange loss for the period.

The profit after tax for Q1 2018 was RM16.5 million, 16.7 per cent lower than the RM19.8 million for Q1 2017. This translated into a net profit of RM15.1 million for Q1 2018, DFI said.

DFI's revenue for Q1 2018 decreased by 13.1 per cent to RM167.5 million, due to customers' lower demand in certain products as well as the Malaysian government's imposition of goods and services tax at border outlets and duty free zones with effect from Jan 1, 2017.

An interim one-tier exempt dividend of S$0.0035 per share, to be paid on Aug 16, has been declared.

DFI closed trading unchanged at S$0.33 on Wednesday.