SINGAPORE - A strong recovery in visitor arrivals at all its businesses in China and Singapore saw mainboard-listed tourism attractions operator Straco bounce strongly back to the black during the second half of 2023.

With all engines firing and a positive outlook for 2024, the cash-rich company also declared a dividend payout which is double that for 2022.

The company posted $19.3 million in profit for the July to December period, bouncing back from a $2.3 million loss during the corresponding period in 2022. Revenue for the second half of 2023 surged 158 per cent to $50.1 million, from $19.4 million a year earlier.

For the full year to December 2023, net profit came in at $25.7 million, a whopping reversal from a loss of $10.8 million in 2022. Revenue for the full year almost tripled to $82.1 million, from $28.2 million.

The results translated into earnings per share of three cents. Net asset value per share stood at 30.73 cents. The company has proposed a final dividend of 1.5 cents, plus an additional 0.5 cent in special dividend. The total two-cent payout is double the one cent it paid for 2022.

Straco’s China attractions, such as the Shanghai Ocean Aquarium, Underwater World Xiamen and Lixing Cable Car in Xi’an, saw significantly higher visitor arrivals during the July to December 2023 period as China’s domestic tourism posted a post-Covid recovery amid the summer holidays and National Day Golden Week holidays, resulting in higher revenue.

At home, Straco’s Singapore Flyer also reported higher revenue in the second half of 2023 compared with the second half of 2022, with a significant increase in ticket revenue from all segments as international tourist arrivals continued to recover and ride operations gradually returned to their normal operating hours.

Straco’s executive chairman Wu Hsioh Kwang noted that 2023 was the first year of post-pandemic recovery for the group, as the company’s China attractions saw a return of visitors and increased revenues, compared with the preceding year when prolonged closure or intermittent lockdowns affected normal operations.

“Overall visitor numbers to all our attractions were more than 70 per cent of pre-pandemic level in FY2019, and all attractions reported profits for the year,” he said.

The company said retail and F&B revenue increased substantially amid higher footfall, while net rental income from retail leases and event space rental as well as F1 revenue also increased.

The company said overall visitation to all its attractions totalled 2.06 million visitors for the second half of 2023, 216 per cent higher than the corresponding period of 650,000 visitors in the second half of 2022.

“Overall revenues from our attractions were significantly higher on substantial increase in visitor arrivals,” it said, noting that in the 2022 financial year, a prolonged closure of Shanghai Ocean Aquarium for more than three months and low visitor numbers to its China attractions amid intermittent lockdowns and strict Covid-19 measures had severely impacted visitor numbers and normal operations.

It added that rides on the Singapore Flyer were also suspended for about three months due to a technical issue in FY2022.

The company generated net cash of $23.12 million from operating activities during the second half of 2023, compared with net cash generated of $4.46 million during the same period in the second half of 2022 when business volume in China was significantly lower due to the zero-Covid policy in China at that time.

The company had cash of $162.8 million at end-December 2023.

Straco expects to build on its growth this year. Indeed, forward statements by the Chinese and Singapore authorities seem upbeat on tourism numbers.

The China Tourism Academy estimates that domestic tourism will see growth in both visitor numbers and revenue to over six billion domestic visits and 6 trillion yuan (S$1.13 trillion) in 2024, following the recovery of the tourism sector in 2023.

Meanwhile, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) reported that Singapore’s tourism sector recovered strongly with 13.6 million international visitor arrivals in 2023, and estimated tourism receipts of between $24.5 billion and $26 billion.

STB expects continued recovery of tourism arrivals in 2024 on improved international flight connectivity and increased capacity, as well as the implementation of the mutual 30-day visa-free travel between China and Singapore.

Straco closed 1.5 cents up at 53 cents on Feb 29. It closed at 50 cents on March 1.