SINGAPORE (May 11): ZICO Holdings, an integrated provider of multidisciplinary professional services, reported 1Q18 earnings fell 27.1% to RM1.07 million ($0.36 million) compared to RM1.47 million in 1Q17.
Revenue for the quarter was 21.2% higher at RM20.3 million from RM16.7 million a year ago.
This was propelled by the group’s Advisory and Transactional Services (ATS) division which grew 39.3% to RM14.9 million, but was partially offset by a 10.0% decline in revenue from the Management and Support Services Business & Licensing Service division due to changes in invoicing arrangements.
Other income halved at RM0.51 million from RM1.01 million in the previous year.
Employee benefits expense increased by 15.5% y-o-y to RM11.7 million, as the group added headcount to deepen its suite of services, especially for the ATS division. This is in line with the growth strategies of group’s subsidiaries in Singapore and Malaysia, which received their capital market services licenses in 2016 and 2017, respectively
Other expenses rose by 44.9% y-o-y to RM3.18 million, primarily attributed to non-core operations including share registrar business, software maintenance, licensing fees and compliance costs relating to the continuing activity on the SGX by ZICO Capital.
Chew Seng Kok, group managing director says, “Our forward strategy will be propelled by capital market services including trust, business advisory and other services coupled with economic growth in the region. We continue to build up the ATS division while adding competencies in each country, increasing synergies and economies of scale through cross-selling and referral of services and sharing resources.”
Shares in ZICO Holdings closed at 21 cents on Friday.
