SINGAPORE (Aug 3): Venture Corporation reported a 40.2% rise in 2Q18 earnings to $97.9 million from $69.8 million in the same quarter a year ago.
The bottomline growth was largely due to an improved net margin of 10.3% in the latest quarter compared to 6.9% in 2Q17 and came despite a 6% fall in revenue to $952.3 million from $1 billion previously.
Changes in finished goods, work in progress and raw materials used fell 13.4% to $684.7 million from $790.6 million a year ago.
The group also reported 7% lower employee benefits and expenses of $86.7 million compared to $93.3 million in 2Q17.
Other operating expenses fell by 13.2% to $28.3 million from $32.6 million previously, which Venture attributes to non-recurring charges and judicious cost management.
Research and development (R&D) expenses however grew nearly fivefold to $34.4 million from $7.3 million a year ago, due to higher expenses incurred for prototyping, tooling, NRE, materials and related services driven by increased customers’ requirements.
In all, the latest set of 2Q results brings Venture’s earnings for 1H18 to $181.6 million, which is 53.3% higher than the $118.4 million reported a year ago.
Diluted earnings per share (EPS) for 2Q18 and 1H18 were 3.6 cents and 62.4 cents respectively, up from 24.4 cents and 41.6 cents a year ago.
Looking ahead, Venture believes it is well positioned to capture new opportunities arising from its changing operating environment, with growth drivers across its broad-based portfolio as well as strong supply chain management to provide resilience and stability to the group’s long-term performance.
Shares in the group closed 3 cents higher at $16.85 on Friday.
