KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian retailing group Duty Free International Limited (DFI) has reported a 20.7% rise in retail revenue to RM349.6m ($68m) in H1 2016 compared to RM289.6m in the same period last year.
Revenue in Q2 2016 rose to RM157m, an increase of 4.7% compared to Q2 2015. According to the company, the growth was primarily due to the increase in retailing of duty-free goods and non-dutiable merchandise (duty-free) section. The company said the revenue growth came from an increase in sales volume, improvement in pricing of certain merchandise and contribution from new outlets at Kuala Lumpur International 2.
Net profit in H1 2016 rose 47.1% to RM35.3m from RM24m in H1 2015. In Q2 2016, Net profit reached surged 62.1% to RM15.4m from RM9.5m the same period the previous year.
Executive director Lee Sze Siang said: “In spite of a challenging year of slower global economic growth, we are pleased to register an improvement in the half-year results. The results once again demonstrate that Duty Free International business is a resilient business. We remain cautions of the challenging operating environment ahead and it’s vital for us to maintain our agility and cost management within the group.”
Lee added: “The priority is to be both growth and value driven despite a challenging operating environment. We continue to seek better opportunities, especially in terms of enhancing our retail outlets and improving our product categories. We will strive to have steady improvement in our core operating margin and build a stronger core business.”
DFI recently achieved a corporate milestone with the successful transfer from Catalist to trading on the Mainboard of Singapore Exchange (“SGX”) on Oct 5 2016. The group sees this as a platform to build a more diverse investor base and further enhance their profile to tap on the capital market so as to fund future growth.
Earlier this year, Heinemann Asia Pacific purchased a 10% stake plus one share in DFZ Capital Berhad, a wholly-owned subsidiary of DFI, for €19.7m in cash, with an option of increasing its stake by another 15%. As a strategic investor in the business, Gebr Heinemann will assist in enhancing DFI’s future business in Malaysia and regionally.
