Metech Q2 loss widens to S$377,000 after exiting e-waste business

METECH International posted on Monday a net loss of S$377,000 for the second quarter ended Dec 31, from a net loss S$107,000 a year ago, after it discontinued its main electronic-waste management (EMW) business.

With its EWM business held for sale and accounted for under discontinued operations, revenue for the quarter was derived solely from Metech's supply chain management (SCM) business. This rose 31.5 per cent to S$22.1 million from S$16.8 million a year ago as more resources were committed to SCM, said the firm.

The loss after tax from discontinued operations amounted to S$423,000 loss, while continuing operations posted a profit after tax of S$57,000, up 90 per cent year on year.

Earnings per share for the company from continuing operations stood at 0.013 cent compared to 0.007 cent a year ago. Loss per share for discontinued operations was at 0.0093 cent compared to 0.0004 cent in the year-ago quarter. No dividend was declared for the quarter.

For the first half-year, Metech's net loss came to S$2 million, reversing from a net profit of S$75,000 a year ago. Revenue rose 12.4 per cent to S$46.6 million.

In a Singapore Exchange filing, Metech said that following its earlier announced disposal of the EMW subsidiaries in Malaysia and United States, it had also decided to discontinue its Singapore operations.

It expects the above moves to result in significant reduction of cost of operations and that the remaining inventory from the EWM business will return some cash to the group. In the near future, the company intends to focus on growing the SCM business and achieving higher profitability, said Metech. At the same time, it will explore other opportunitites for its longer term growth.

Consequently, the company and its former CEO and current managing director of its EWM business, Andrew Eng, have mutually agreed to discontinue his employment with the group, said Metech. Mr Eng, whose three-month notice period started on Feb 1, will continue to assist the company in its disposal of the EWM business during this period, it said.

Metech shares closed at 0.063 cents on Monday.