Massive losses, big plunges in net profits reported by several companies
By JAMIE LEE
THE bad news can wait, even when it comes to the results season.
The latest crop of companies squeezing in their results over the weekend included several firms that made massive losses and big plunges in net profits.
The company that was most eye-catching was Celestial Nutrifoods, which widened its post-tax loss to 673 million yuan (S$135 million) for the second quarter, compared to a post-tax loss of 264 million yuan for the same period a year ago.
The S-chip - which remains in trading suspension following its default on convertible bonds worth more than $200 million - said it was hit by 'substantial sales returns' of 437 million yuan.
It posted what it called a 'negative revenue' of 161 million yuan for the quarter.
Celestial, a maker of soya bean food products, said that customers' confidence in the company has been shaken by concerns about its liquidity problems and solvency status.
Another company that posted dramatic numbers for the quarter was Healthway Medical Corporation, which posted a 97.2 per cent drop in post-tax profit to $121,000 for its second quarter, due to lower revenue and higher staff costs.
Revenue fell 12.3 per cent to $21.4 million due to the absence of a flu pandemic this year (it had benefited from the one last year) and the expected lower patient load for new specialists, Healthway said in its fiscal report.
Staff costs - its biggest expense item - rose 22.9 per cent to $13.2 million, following the hiring of new doctors.
This, together with higher operating expenses recorded, was in line with its expansion plan, said Healthway, which separately announced that it would operate and manage 12 medical and dental centres in China with third-party companies and individuals.
Joining the headline acts was Mermaid Maritime.
The offshore marine services provider swung into a net loss of 276 million baht (S$11.8 million) for its third quarter ended June, compared with a net profit of 329 million baht a year ago, due to a plunge in service income. The latter fell about 40 per cent to 881 million baht.
Mermaid's sector peer Rickmers Maritime reported an 88 per cent plunge in its net profit to US$610,000 for its second quarter to June, though this should be judged against the 5 per cent slip in the shipping trust's distribution per unit (DPU). Rickmers' DPU stood at 0.57 US cent for the quarter, down from 0.60 US cent a year ago, and matching the DPU posted in the first quarter.
Its distributable income fell 9 per cent to US$17.8 million from a year ago, due to weaker charter revenue and an increase in interest costs. Charter revenue for the second quarter slipped 3 per cent to US$36.4 million, following a smaller contribution from 5,060-TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units) vessel Kaethe C Rickmers.
Still, net profit for Rickmers dropped 88 per cent to US$0.61 million, due mainly to a one-off loan restructuring fee of US$5.36 million. The trust also posted an unrealised loss of US$1.41 million on four of its interest rate swaps that were no longer effective as cash-flow hedges.
One company that bucked the trend was Hyflux Water Trust (HWT). Soon to be taken private by Hyflux and its new Japanese partner Mitsui & Co, HWT turned profitable in its second quarter, raking in $991,000 compared with a net loss of $1.18 million posted a year ago. This came on the back of a 40 per cent jump in revenue to $9.31 million.
However, the trust - which makes distributions to unitholders every six months - posted a 9.38 per cent dip in its DPU for the first half to 2.32 cents. Income available to unitholders for distribution, excluding sponsors, was $4.8 million, down 8.82 per cent.
Cash available for distribution was shared between unitholders and sponsors.
In the first half of 2009, the trust manager of HWT agreed to elect to receive its management fees in units and waive all its entitlement to the distribution. But for the first half of 2010, the manager will receive its fees in cash.
Another exception was commercial pig farmer People's Food Holdings, which doubled its net profit for the second quarter to 70.9 million yuan from 34.5 million yuan on firmer sales. Revenue rose 26.5 per cent to 2.98 billion yuan.
