OUE Lippo Healthcare trims H2 loss to S$2.5m, swings back to black for full year

CATALIST-LISTED OUE Lippo Healthcare 5WA : 5WA 0% (OUELH) on Tuesday reported a net loss of S$2.5 million for the second half of the year ended December, versus a net loss of S$97.5 million in the corresponding year-ago period.

This translated to a loss per share of S$0.00056, versus a loss per share of S$0.02194 in H2 2020.

No dividend was declared for the period under review, unchanged from the previous year.

The company's full-year earnings came in at S$111.4 million, reversing from a loss of S$98.7 million in the previous year.

Revenue for H2 inched down 1 per cent to S$10 million from S$10.1 million in the year-ago period. Cost of sales for the period was up 21 per cent to S$2.9 million from S$2.4 million.

For the full-year, revenue was down 2 per cent to S$19.7 million from S$20 million. OUELH's topline, which mainly comprised rental income from its 12 nursing homes in Japan, revenue from its pharmaceutical distribution business and the Wuxi Lippo Xi Nan hospital in China, was down marginally due to the weaker exchange rate of Japanese yen to Singapore dollar.

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Cost of sales for the year was up 6 per cent to S$5.1 million, due primarily to higher cost of sales incurred by Wuxi Lippo Xi Nan hospital as a result of ramping up its sales during the year from adapting its its services to the on-going Covid-19 pandemic.

The group, however, booked a 16 per cent decrease for the full year in administrative expenses due to stringent cost management and lower costs incurred in relation to corporate, merger and acquisition activities.

As at end-December, OUELH's net current liabilities amounted to S$21.1 million due to a shareholder's loan totalling $4.15 million that was accounted for as current liabilities, as well as provisions of S$22.5 million.

The board of directors, however, confirmed that the company is able to meet its debt obligations as and when they fall due in view of the continuing efforts by management to improve the financial position of the group.

In its outlook statement, OUELH said the Covid-19 pandemic continues to present challenges and uncertainties for the global economy, particularly with the recent emergence of the Omicron variant.

However, the company said more countries are adopting a "co-exist" approach towards the virus as global vaccination rates increase.

"While we are hopeful that the global economy will eventually recover, we remain cautious and will continue to monitor the global pandemic situation."

Shares of OUELH closed at S$0.036 on Tuesday, up 2.9 per cent or S$0.001, prior to the announcement of the results.