Thakral Corp ekes out small profit in Q1

SINGAPORE - Thakral Corporation has crawled back into the black, with a first quarter net profit of $172,000.

It had lost $211,000 in the same period last year.

The trading and property group doubled its revenue for the three months to March 31 to $179.5 million from $88.9 million previously.

Revenue from the investment division rose by 51 per cent to $3.4 million.

At its lifestyle division, revenue doubled to $176.1 million compared to $86.6 million in the previous corresponding period.

Gross profit increased by 18 per cent to $6.4 million.

On the other hand, with low margin products making up a high proportion of the lifestyle division's product mix, coupled with an ongoing shift away from the traditional digital products, gross profit margin declined to 3.6 per cent from 6.1 per cent previously.

Earnings per share amounted to 0.01 cent against loss of 0.01 cent previously while net asset value per share inched up to 3.93 cents compared to 3.91 cents as at Dec 31.

Looking ahead, Thakral said the opportunities for its investment division in the residential market in Australia are strong given that home prices in the capital cities continue to rise.

"Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the group remains cautiously optimistic in

its overall outlook for FY2014," said Thakral non-executive chairman Natarajan Subramaniam.

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