Ban Leong Technologies has reported earnings of $7.2 million for the FY2020/2021 ended March, 160.5% – or 2.6 times – higher than earnings of $2.8 million in the year before.
The higher earnings were attributable to higher revenue, gross profit, as well as other operating income during the year.
Earnings per share (EPS) stood at 6.17 cents on a fully diluted basis, compared to the 2.51 cents in the FY2019/2020.
Revenue for the FY2021 increased by 21.6% y-o-y to $182.7 million on the back of improvements in revenues for the accessories and storage segments, which saw revenues of $31.3 million and $1.2 million respectively.
For the FY2020/2021, Ban Leong’s multimedia segment remained “relatively stable” at $95.7 million.
SEE:Ban Leong builds up 25-year track record in IT product distribution
The increase in revenue for accessories was due to stronger demand for video collaboration tools on the back of the rising work-from-home (WFH) and home-based learning (HBL) trends.
Demand for gaming accessories also saw growth due to the popularity of online video games during the pandemic.
The higher revenue for storage was due to a full-year impact of a new product that was distributed at the end of FY2020.
Gross profits increased by 34.1% y-o-y to $20.0 million mainly due to the higher revenue, as well as the depreciation of the US dollar against the regional currencies.
The depreciation of the dollar led to a foreign exchange gain of $0.9 million during the FY2020/2021.
Other operating income surged 165.7% y-o-y to $1.8 million due to more Covid-19 related grants from the Singapore government.
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Expenses for selling and distribution, as well as general and administrative purposes increased by 6.3% y-o-y and 18.7% y-o-y to $7.4 million and $6.4 million due to staff-related expenses and higher bonus provisions respectively.
A higher provision for taxation expenses was made in FY2020/2021 as profit before tax increased 139.8% y-o-y to almost $8.7 million.
The company has recommended a final one-tier dividend of 2.5 cents per share for the FY2020/2021, higher than the final dividend of 1.25 cents paid per share in the FY2019/2020.
The dividend will be paid on August 16.
As at end-March, cash and cash equivalents stood at $20.7 million.
Shares in Ban Leong closed flat at 27.5 cents on May 24.
