Stamford Tyres' FY15 net profit drops 83% to S$1.7m on price pressures, one-offs

STAMFORD Tyres' full-year net profit fell 83 per cent to S$1.7 million as pricing pressure and the absence of gains from a property sale weighed on the bottom line, the tyre distributor announced on Thursday evening.

On a per-share basis, net profit for the year ended April 2015 was 0.72 Singapore cents. The company cut its dividend to one Singapore cent per share, from 1.5 Singapore cents the year before.

Stamford Tyres shares last traded at S$0.34 on Thursday, down by 1.4 per cent, or half a cent, before the results were announced.

Revenue increased by 0.7 per cent to S$292.5 million, weighed by translation losses as the company reported its overseas sales in the stronger Singapore dollar. Gross profit slipped 2.6 per cent to S$64.5 million due to pricing pressure competition in certain markets.

Fiscal 2014's bottom line got a S$5.6 million boost from the sale of Balestier Tower, however.

Looking ahead, Stamford Tyres expects its operating environment to be challenging because of an "uncertain" global economic outlook. The company said that it continues to try to optimise its product mix and manage operating costs.