PETALING JAYA: Tan Sri William Cheng’s Parkson Holdings Bhd reported a net profit that leaped 332.29% to RM110.61mil on the back of a 3.54% jump in revenue to RM981.68mil for the second quarter to Dec 31, 2014. Earnings per share increased to 10.24 sen from 2.38 sen.
The better earnings were a result of its “property and others division”, which was attributable to the group’s newly-acquired subsidiaries involved in the food and beverage businesses.
Its core retailing business was unchanged and did not register growth.
For the six-month period, net profit was up 132.27% to RM130.82mil on the back of a 2.86% jump in revenue to RM1.83bil. Earnings per share increased to 12.19 sen from 5.22 sen.
The local Parkson operations reported a negative same store sales (SSS) growth of about 6% .
“Consumer sentiments were negatively affected by the rising cost of living and depreciating currency. Reduced China tourist arrivals and the worse-than-expected flooding in the east coast of peninsular Malaysia have also impacted the performance of Parkson Malaysia,” said Parkson.
In China, the Government’s austerity measures and keen competition from online retailers had affected discretionary spending in China resulting in negative SSS growth of 6% for the six-month period.
Operating profit for the first half of the financial year declined by 25% to RM49mil compared with a year ago due to the negative SSS growth and increased operating costs.
Moving forward, Parkson said the group’s retailing operations in China and the South-East Asian region were anticipated to remain challenging.
“Nevertheless, a satisfactory performance is expected in the coming quarter in view of the higher consumer spending during the Chinese New Year festivities,” it said.
Meanwhile, Cheng’s other company, Lion Corp Bhd’s losses for its second quarter to Dec 31, 2014 widened to RM123.31mil from RM33.18mil previously while revenue dropped 35.42% to RM474.28mil.
Its cash position also dropped to RM166.23mil from RM220.07mil previously.
For the six-month period, losses also increased to RM209.24mil from RM132.02mil on the back of a 10.97% drop in revenue to RM1.08bil,
The unfavourable performance mainly arose from the sluggish demand of the domestic steel market as the rampant dumping activities by foreign millers remained a major market disturbance.
The property division also reported lower progress billings for the period under review, while the furniture division remained negligible to the group.
Lion Corp said pending the effectiveness of the anti-dumping duty measures by the Government, the operating environment for the group’s steel business was expected to remain challenging in the coming quarter while the property and furniture divisions were expected to sustain their moderate performance.
