Catalist-listed Aoxin Q&M has reported net profit of RMB2.8 million ($579,447) for the 1QFY2022 ended March. This is a turnaround from its net loss of RMB4.7 million in the same period the year before.
Aoxin Q&M is a leading provider of private dental services in the Liaoning Province in China.
Revenue fell 1.5% y-o-y to RMB34.3 million mainly due to lower revenue contribution from the distribution of dental equipment and supplies segment. The lower contribution was due to the closure of operations on the back of the resurgence of Covid-19 cases in China.
The group’s EBITDA increased 17.64x to RMB8.0 million due to the improvement in gross profit margin as well as cost reduction in the primary healthcare segment.
The share of profit from its 49% associate company, Acumen Diagnostics Pte Ltd also contributed to the surge in EBITDA.
In its update, the group says some of its hospitals and dental polyclinics in the cities of Shenyang and Dalian have been temporarily closed due to the resurgence of Covid-19 cases in March.
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Acumen will also be focusing on rolling out its pipeline of new tests. The new tests include PCR assays for sepsis, as well as identification of bacterial pathogens and their associated antibiotics resistance in pneumonia and blood stream infections, in addition to PCR tests for screening of colorectal cancer.
“China continues to implement a zero-Covid policy which affects all industries and the dental industry is no exception. The resurgence of Covid-19 led to closures of our operations since March which resulted in lower customers’ demand for dental equipment and supplies and laboratories services. Notwithstanding the challenging business environment, the Group achieved a turnaround performance with a profit of RMB2.8 million for 1QFY2022 from a loss of RMB4.7 million in 1Q2021, with cost reduction and profit contribution from Acumen,” says Dr Shao Yongxin, group CEO.
“Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the management is cautiously optimistic for the Group’s performance for the financial year ending Dec 31,” he adds.
Shares in Aoxin Q&M closed flat at 18.4 cents on May 11.
