Q&M Dental posts 10% rise in FY2020 profit, declares 2.5 S cents special dividend

Q&M Dental Group (Singapore) recorded a net profit of S$19.7 million for the full year ended Dec 31, 2020, 10 per cent higher than its FY2019 profit of S$18 million.

In its results released on Monday, the mainboard-listed group said this was mainly due to higher revenue and lower operating expenses.

Earnings per share stood at 2.5 Singapore cents, up from 2.29 cents a year ago.

Total revenue grew 8 per cent year on year to S$137.6 million from S$128 million, mainly boosted by 26 per cent higher revenue contributions in H2.

Full-year revenue from dental and medical outlets increased by 6 per cent to S$126.4 million in FY2020, from S$119.2 million a year ago.

This comes as revenue from existing and new dental outlets in both Singapore and Malaysia - which includes profit-guarantee income - generated significantly more revenue in H2 than in the pre-Covid-19 period and compared to the corresponding period in FY2019, said the group.

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As at end-2020, Q&M Dental had six more dental outlets across Singapore and Malaysia compared to the year before.

Key operating expenses for the full year fell 3 per cent to S$101.4 million from S$104.7 million, attributed to support received from the government's Jobs Support Scheme and rental rebates in relation to Covid-19.

Share of profit from equity-accounted associates fell 96 per cent to S$159,000 from S$4.2 million a year ago as a result of the group's reduced shareholding in Aidite, which is now 9.19 per cent as a result of the partial disposal in December 2019.

Excluding other gains and share of profit from equity-accounted associates, net profit jumped 322 per cent to S$19.3 million in FY2020 from S$4.6 million in the year-ago period.

The group has declared a second special interim dividend of 2.5 Singapore cents per share, which will be paid out on March 23. It said the special dividend is intended to "reward shareholders for the good performance in FY2020 despite Covid-19", and also in view of the potential profit generated from its disposal of a remaining 12.2 per cent of the group's shares in Aidite.

Its directors have recommended a final dividend of half a cent which will be paid out on May 25, subject to shareholder approval at its upcoming annual general meeting.

Ng Chin Siau, the group's chief executive officer, said Q&M Dental intends to double its Covid-19 PCR laboratory-testing capacity to "capture a significant portion of the current 28,000 daily tests conducted by the Singapore government", in view of the recently announced S$3.1 billion budget for Covid-19 testing, clinical management and contact tracing.

"To maintain our current position as the leading private dental healthcare group in Asia, we are targeting to open at least 30 dental outlets a year from 2021 in Singapore and Malaysia for the next 10 years. We are also launching the ethical artificial intelligence-enhanced guided dental treatment plan in Singapore by 2021," he said.

"With all the growth initiatives outlined above, we expect future profitability to be increasingly driven by core business rather than share of associate profit and one-off gain," Dr Ng added.

Shares in Q&M Dental closed at 58 Singapore cents on Monday, down 1.5 cents or 2.52 per cent.