SINGAPORE - Myanmar-focused Yoma Strategic Holdings incurred a net loss of US$13.3 million for its first quarter ended June 30, 2019, deepening from a net loss of US$5.6 million a year ago, amid lower real estate development revenues and higher finance expenses.
Revenue shrank 11.5 per cent to US$18.6 million, down from US$21 million in the previous year.
This was mainly due to lower contribution from the Yoma Land real estate business, as well as a 76.5 per cent year-on-year increase in finance expenses to US$9.6 million.
Loss per share was 0.7 US cent, compared to a loss per share of 0.3 US cent for the year-ago quarter.
Yoma Land's contribution fell amid a lower percentage of completion revenues because the City Loft housing project in Yangon's Star City only started construction in April. The group started recognising revenue from the sale of City Loft units based on the percentage of completion method.
Moving forward, City Loft is expected to contribute meaningfully to real estate development revenue, in line with the growth of the mass market housing segment and the scaling up of the project, said the company.
Revenue from Yoma Motors, its automotive and heavy equipment segment, also dropped, by 24.9 per cent, albeit with "significantly" higher gross profit margins, the group said.
Meanwhile, financial services revenue grew by 27.7 per cent due to the expansion of Yoma Fleet, the vehicle leasing and rental business, while revenue from the food and beverage (F&B) business doubled as a result of new store openings, same store sales growth at KFC and the March acquisition of Yankin Kyay Oh Group of Companies (YKKO). YKKO contributed US$2.99 million in Q1 2020.
The higher finance expenses for the quarter were due to higher interest expenses from the increase in borrowings and interest rates, accounting changes that reclassified operating leases into financing expenses, and currency translation losses in relation to the recently issued Thai baht-denominated bonds.
No dividend has been recommended by the board of directors, after reviewing the group's requirements for ongoing operations and plans for growth, including the project timeline for Yoma Central and The Peninsula Yangon.
Shares of Yoma Strategic closed flat at 38.5 cents on Tuesday.
