SINGAPORE (May 12): Starburst Holdings, the design and engineer of firearms-training facilities, posted 1Q17 earnings of $0.4 million compared to a net loss of $0.4 million a year ago.
Revenue decreased 37.8% to $4.2 million as the group’s projects were mostly in their final installation phases which translated to lower revenue based on the percentage-of-completion method.
The projects included the installation work phase of a firearm shooting range project in Southeast East Asia, a firearm shooting range project in the Middle East, and the Marina One architectural steel project at Marina Way in Singapore as well as maintenance works.
As there were fewer projects in the design and fabrication work phases in 1Q17 compared to 1Q2016, the group’s project and production costs decreased 64% to $1.9 million due to the reduction in material and fabrication costs.
Gross profit similarly improved, rising 43.8% to $2.3 million in 1Q17 from S$1.6 million in 1Q16, while gross profit margin improved 32 percentage points to 55.8% from 23.8% during the quarter.
Starburst says rising global tensions have led to increasing demand for defence and military equipments and services. In turn, this resulted in increased defence spending globally, especially in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Japan, India, China and Russia.
Shares of Starburst closed at 35 cents on Friday.
