SINGAPORE (Sept 11): Union Gas Holdings, the fuel products provider which listed in July, reported a 37% fall in first half income to $1.5 million from $2.3 million a year ago on higher administrative expenses.
Revenue for the six months ended June rose 12.6% to $19.8 million from $17.5 million mainly due to a 8.8% increase in revenue to $10.7 million from the retail of bottled liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders and LPG-related accessories to domestic households in Singapore.
This was partially offset by a 27.9% decrease in sales to $3.7 million of compressed natural gas (CNG) as the number of locally-registered natural gas vehicle -- a vehicle that operates on CNG, or CNG and petrol -- fell.
Revenue from its diesel business more than doubled to $4.43 million from $1.73 million mainly due to increase in the average selling price of diesel and sales volume.
Administrative expenses surged nearly sevenfold to $1.84 million due to the increase in employee compensation of $0.58 million due to restructuring, listing expenses of $0.85 million and depreciation of $0.07 million mainly arising from acquisition of IT Infrastructure and related equipment.
In its forecast, Union Gas says the outlook for next 12 months remains challenging due to highly competitive industry, fluctuation in purchase costs of bottled LPG cylinders, natural gas and diesel, labour shortage and changes in government regulation. In addition, it expects revenue from its CNG business to decrease in line with the expected decrease in the number of NGVs in Singapore.
No dividend was declared for the fiscal period under review.
Shares in Union Gas closed at 25 cents on Monday.
