SINGAPORE (May 15): ZICO Holdings, the integrated network of professional service firms, announced 1Q17 earnings of RM1.8 million ($0.6 million), reversing from the RM2.7 million loss it reported a year ago.
Revenue for the quarter grew 10.7% to RM16.7 million from RM15.1 million a year ago, driven by a 28.9% increase in contributions from its advisory & transactional services (ATS) segment to RM10.7 million from RM8.3 million previously on additional contributions from advisory service on corporate finance under ZICO Capital.
Growth in revenue from business advisory services under ZICO (Labuan) LLP in Malaysian and Asean Advisory Pte Ltd in Singapore also lifted revenue contributions under this segment.
The boost in ZICO’s topline however partially offset by a 11.8% fall in revenue from the management and support services business & licensing services (MSSL), which fell to RM6 million from RM6.8 million in 1Q16 mainly due to a change in invoicing arrangements.
Other income increased by RM0.3 million mainly due to higher management fees and higher reimbursements.
Total operating costs for the quarter rose to RM16.4 million, of which employee benefits expenses stood at RM10.1 million, which was largely due to an increase in headcount in ATS as the group expanded into new businesses in Singapore.
ZICO’s cash and cash equivalents stood at RM17.6 million as at end-March.
“The revenue of ZICO in this quarter has seen growth from the new services in Singapore whilst the cost has been contained. Going forward, we continue to focus on growth in the dynamic ASEAN region while extracting synergies from our complementary services. With this, I believe ZICO’s position as an ASEAN-focused integrated provider of multidisciplinary professional services will grow from strength to strength,” comments managing director Chew Seng Kok.
“Having added ZICO Asset Management onto our suite of services, we have acquired another capability for our existing and prospective clients to tap on. On a strategic level, we will continue to extract synergies across the ZICO group and ZICOlaw network of firms through cross-selling and referrals,” says Chew.
Shares of ZICO closed 1.8% lower at 28 cents on Monday.
