Koh Brothers Group and subsidiary expect losses

Mainboard-listed Koh Brothers Group and its Catalist-listed subsidiary Koh Brothers Eco Engineering (KBEE) both expect to report a net loss for the six months ended June 30, owing to the impact of Covid-19, they said last Friday.

The parent company said: "The imposition of circuit breaker measures by the Singapore Government in April 2020 has severely impacted the group's businesses.

"Although the circuit breaker measures have been gradually lifted, these measures will not be sufficient to restore business activities to pre-Covid-19 levels."

Koh Brothers Group's revenue from the construction and building materials and real estate divisions have therefore been hit.

KBEE, which provides construction and civil engineering services under the Koh Brothers Group's construction division, said the sector was severely affected by the spike in Covid-19 infections among foreign workers living in dormitories.

KBEE said: "The stoppage of most of the group's construction projects has caused delays to project schedules, increased project costs and disruption in project management."

The extent of the delays remains uncertain. Construction works did not resume to their normal level of operations even after the circuit breaker was lifted on June 1, as the group had to meet additional safe and controlled restart measures for each construction project. KBEE expects to continue to face a challenging landscape in the near-term.

Both companies will publish their first-half results on or before Aug 14.

THE BUSINESS TIMES