Homegrown pawnshop chain ValueMax Group has reported earnings of $33.9 million for the FY2020 ended December, 33% higher than earnings of $25.5 million a year ago.
Revenue for the year grew by 17% y-o-y to $276.1 million due to higher revenue from retail and trading of pre-owned jewellery and gold businesses increased by $40.7 million due to the higher gold prices during FY2020.
The higher figure was mitigated by a decrease of $0.5 million from the group’s moneylending businesses. Revenue from its pawnbroking business remained stable.
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FY2020 gross profit increased 10.4% y-o-y to $59.8 million due to higher cost of sales during the period, while gross profit margin (GPM) fell to 21.7% for FY2020 from 23.0%.
Other operating income doubled to $7.7 million from $3.8 million due mainly to the increase in government grants and rental reliefs.
Share of results of associates increased 42.2% y-o-y to $5.5 million due to higher contribution from the Malaysian associated companies.
As such, profit before tax for the FY2020 increased 29.3% y-o-y to $40.4 million.
Earnings per share (EPS) for the FY2020 stood at 6 cents on a fully diluted basis, from 4.68 cents the year before.
A final dividend of 1.80 cents per share has been declared for the FY2020, higher than the 1.61 cents per share declared in FY2019.
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As at end-December, cash and cash equivalents stood at $11.1 million.
Shares in ValueMax closed 1.5 cents higher or 4.4% up at 35.5 cents on Feb 24.
