Q4 revenue surge pushes Aztech's earnings up 18% for FY20

NEWLY-LISTED Aztech Global, the technology unit of Aztech Group, on Monday posted an 18.1 per cent jump in net profit to S$55.7 million, on the back of a 12.9 per cent increase in revenue to S$484.3 million for the 12 months ended Dec 31, 2020.

Earnings per share for the period was 9 Singapore cents, up from 7.6 cents a year ago.

This was mostly driven by its fourth-quarter revenue surge to S$222 million, due to higher production volume and shipment of Internet of Things (IoT) and data communication products to customers. This lifted revenue from this segment to S$428.1 million, the bulk of total revenue.

This followed the group's deliberate focus on the production of smart lighting products, IoT devices and data communication products that commanded higher profit margins, it said.

The improvement in revenue mix, coupled with the group's efforts to improve productivity, led to an 18.7 per cent and 80 basis point increase in Ebitda and Ebitda margin to S$76.3 million and 15.8 per cent respectively for FY2020, it said.

Earnings were partly negated by higher tax expenses arising from higher pre-tax profits and the full utilisation of the group's tax relief in the previous financial year. Net profit margin added 50 basis points to 11.5 per cent, it said.

The board has recommended a final dividend of 2 cents a share for FY20, subject to shareholders' approval at the annual general meeting to be held next month. The board has also approved the adoption of a scrip dividend scheme, which can be applied to this proposed dividend.

Details of the scheme, dividend payment date and books closure date will be announced by the end of this month.

The group's order book as at Jan 2, 2021 was S$270.7 million. Additional orders amounting to S$228.3 million had been received since then to March 21, 2021.

The group's shares added S$0.03 or 2.4 per cent to S$1.28.