SINGAPORE (Feb 22): Serial System has announced earnings of US$4 million ($5.7 million) for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, four times more than a year ago.
As such, earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter increased to 0.45 US cent from 0.11 US cent for 4Q2015.
In a Wednesday statement, the distributor of electronic components and consumer products says its earnings for the quarter were helped by a gain from the disposal of available‐for‐sale financial assets, as well as by higher office rental income, finance income, commission income and product rebates.
Overall revenue in 4Q16 grew 5% to US$344.9 million due to higher contributions from electronic components distribution where revenue grew 22% to US$327.1 million, which was largely a result of higher demand from new and existing customers in Hong Kong and China.
The higher revenue from electronic components helped to offset lower sales from consumer products distribution, which declined 71% to US$16.9 million during the quarter due to lower contributions from Swift‐Value Business Pte Ltd and Serial I‐Tech group.
Share of losses in associated companies narrowed to US$0.2 million in 4Q16 from US$0.3 million a year ago.
For FY16, the group’s earnings fell 59% to $4.6 million from $11 million a year ago – even though it generated record revenue of US$1.40 billion, up from US$1.22 billion for FY15 on the back of higher distribution sales for electronic components and consumer products.
This was largely due to losses at the consumer products distribution business and at Bull Will, in which Serial System has a 29.03% stake.
The group has proposed a final dividend of 0.17 cent, bringing its entire FY16 payout to 0.35 cents after factoring an interim dividend of 0.18 cent already given out to shareholders.
“The global semiconductor industry is expected to fare better in 2017 than last year, according to research group Gartner. This will bode well for our company, which will continue to explore opportunities to expand into higher‐value business segments even as we seek to keep a tight lid on costs,” says Derek Goh, Serial System’s executive chairman and CEO.
Shares of Serial System closed flat at 14 cents on Tuesday.
