Yoma's Q3 profit surges to S$16.8m following spin-off of tourism business

MAINBOARD-listed Yoma Strategic Holdings on Tuesday announced a third quarter net profit of S$16.75 million, about 50 times more than its net profit of S$334,000 in the year-ago period.

With about 1.84 million shares outstanding, this translates to an earnings per share of 0.91 Singapore cent for the quarter ended Dec 31, up from 0.02 Singapore cent last year.

The increase was a result of gains from the disposal of the group's tourism-related businesses as well as higher revenue from its automotive & heavy equipment, and consumer businesses, the group said.

Significantly, net other income increased to S$27.16 million for Q3 FY18 from S$12.86 million for Q3 FY17, mainly due to a gain by selling off the group's tourism-related businesses.

In December 2017, Yoma completed the disposal of MM Myanmar Pte Ltd and its subsidiary corporations, comprising the Balloons over Bagan business, the Pun Hlaing Lodge business, the Bagan Land business, the Hpa An Lodge business and the Destination Management Company business.

Following this deal, the group recorded a net gain of about S$27.7 million, being the excess of fair value of consideration shares issued by Memories Group to the company's wholly owned subsidiary corporation, Yoma Strategic Investment.

The group now holds a 47.6 per cent stake in Memories Group, which was listed on the Singapore Exchange Catalist board on Jan 5, 2018.

For the three months ended Dec 31, the Myanmar-focused conglomerate with property, automotive, consumer and investment businesses, also recorded a revenue of S$24.1 million, 0.1 per cent higher than a year ago.

The automotive & heavy equipment, and consumer sectors contributed 74 per cent of the total revenue.

Revenue from the group's automotive & heavy equipment business increased by 36.3 per cent year on year to S$13.9 million for Q3 FY18. This was largely driven by the significant growth in the New Holland tractors business which grew 43.9 per cent to S$11.8 million, Yoma said.

Meanwhile, revenue from the group's KFC business grew by 30 per cent to S$3.9 million from last year, mainly due to the addition of new stores.

Revenue from the group's real estate development business contributed S$1.4 million or 5.7 per cent to Q3 FY18 revenue, a decrease from S$6.1 million for Q3 FY17.

This decrease in revenue was mainly attributed to the group's change in sales strategy for StarCity's Zone C following the recent buy-back of the development to keep some units for long-term rental while re-designing other units to meet the demand for smaller units, Yoma said.

No dividend has been declared for the current financial year, same as the preceding financial year.

Yoma Strategic closed down 2 per cent, or one Singapore cent to S$0.49 apiece on Monday.