Union Gas Holdings has reported a 6% y-o-y drop in revenue for its 1HFY2023 to $64.2 million. However, earnings surged by 137.6% y-o-y to $5.8 million, as it incurred lower costs buying fuel to process and resell.
The company plans to pay an interim dividend of 0.6 Singapore cent per share, which is higher than the total dividend per share of 0.5 Singapore cent paid out for whole of FY2022.
CEO Teo Hark Piang is upbeat on the company's business prospects. "We will continue to leverage our upstream and downstream LPG assets to grow this segment by tapping into new opportunities along the supply chain.
"We are also encouraged by the rapid growth of our natural gas (NG) business, which affirmed our strategic diversification from compressed NG to also include liquified NG and piped NG," he adds.
Union Gas says that with borders opened, it will continue to explore and evaluate strategic opportunities to diversify and grow its business both locally and overseas.
To cushion the impact of direct material costs, which continue to be volatile due to the ongoing conflict in Eastern Europe, the company has in place measures to rein in its operational expenses and controllable costs.
See also: Trump wins Republican nomination, setting up rematch with Biden
Union Gas shares closed at 41 cents on Aug 14, down 3.57% for the day and down 19% year to date.
