Q&M Dental Group has posted earnings of $19.7 million for the FY2020 ended December, 10% higher than earnings of $18.0 from a year ago.
Earnings per share (EPS) stood at 2.50 cents for the FY2020, from 2.29 cents in FY2019.
Total FY2020 revenue increased 8% y-o-y to $137.6 million due to higher revenue contributions from Dental and Medical Clinics, as well as Dental Equipment & Supplies Distribution.
In FY2020, the group reported $2.2 million in revenue from the sales of Covid-19 test kits and laboratory tests as well.
Interest income for the year surged 769% to $278,000 from $32,000.
According to the group, group revenue in Singapore has recovered from the impact of the circuit breaker period, and has now surpassed revenues from pre-Covid-19.
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While 1HFY2020 revenue saw a 12% y-o-y decline, 2HFY2020 group revenue grew 26% y-o-y to $83.5 million.
Revenue from dental and medical outlets grew by 6% y-o-y to $126.4 million due to higher revenue from existing and new dental outlets in Singapore and Malaysia.
Revenue from its Singapore and Malaysia dental outlets from June to December 2020 stood “significantly more” than figures from pre-Covid-19. Revenue from dental and medical clinics includes profit guarantee income.
The group has a total of 83 dental outlets, 5 medical outlets and 1 dental college in Singapore as at Dec 31, 2020, 3 dental outlets more than FY2019.
In Malaysia, the group has a total of 34 dental outlets in Malaysia and 1 dental outlet in China, compared to the 31 outlets in Malaysia and 1 outlet in China in the year before.
Revenue from the dental equipment and supplies distribution business inched up 2% y-o-y to $9 million due to higher revenue from the dental equipment and supplies distribution company in Singapore. This was offset by lower revenue from the dental equipment and supplies distribution business in Malaysia due to Covid-19.
In FY2020, the group netted some $0.3 million in other gains mainly due to exchange gain for the partial disposal of Aidite as well as reversal of impairment for trade and other receivables.
Share of profit from equity-accounted associates fell 96% y-o-y to $0.2 million due to the lower shareholding in Aidite, resulting in lower contributions from the company.
The group’s profit before tax for the FY2020 and 2HFY2020 stood 11% higher y-o-y to $22.4 million and 16% y-o-y higher at $13.4 million respectively.
As at Dec 31, 2020, cash and cash equivalents stood at $48.8 million.
The group has proposed a final dividend of 0.5 cents per share, as well as a special second interim dividend of 2.5 cents per share due to the good performance logged in FY2020, and in view of the potential profit generated from the sale of the 12.2% shares in Aidite.
This brings the total payout for FY2020 to 3.4 cents per share.
SEE: Acquisitions positive for Q&M Dental Group, core business still resilient: KGI Securities
“The Singapore Government has recently announced a $3.1 billion budget for Covid-19 testing, clinical management and contact tracing as part of the $11 billion Covid-19 Resilience Package in the 2021 Budget. With this development, we are doubling our Covid-19 PCR laboratory testing capacity. We are targeting to capture a significant portion of the current 28,000 daily tests conducted by the Singapore Government,” says group CEO Ng Chin Siau.
“Dental revenue has proven to be resilient, even during the Covid-19 pandemic. To maintain our current position as the leading private dental healthcare group in Asia, we are targeting to open at least 30 dental outlets a year from 2021 onwards in Singapore and Malaysia for the next 10 years. We are also launching the ethical AI enhanced guided dental treatment plan in Singapore by 2021,” Ng adds.
“With all the growth initiatives outlined above, we expect future profitability to be increasingly driven by core business rather than share of associate profit and one off gain.”
Shares in Q&M closed 0.5 cent lower or 0.8% down at 59.5 cents on Feb 26.
