Duty Free International's Q3 profit falls 10.2% to $6.65 million

Higher rents at airports have led to a 10.2 per cent drop in net profit to RM17.2 million (S$6.65 million) for Duty Free International.

The firm said today that its revenue for the third quarter ended on Nov 30 came in at RM153.8 million, a rise of 15.7 per cent.

Revenue rose due mainly to the increase from the trading of duty free goods as a result of competitive pricing, the firm said.

But rental of premises increased by 92.3 per cent to RM9 million. The bulk of the hike was due to rental expenses incurred for outlets in Johor Bahru, Penang and Kuala Lumpur.

Earnings per share for the third quarter rose to 1.55 sen from 1.52 sen in the year-ago period, while net asset value per share came in at 38.29 sen as of Nov 30, up from 30.88 sen at the end of February.

Shares of the firm fell by half a cent to 29.5 cents today.

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