Q& M Dental Group (Singapore) recorded a net profit of S$19.7 million for the full year ended Dec 31, 2020, 10 per cent higher than its FY2019 profit of S$18 million.

 

In its results released on Monday, the mainboard-listed group said this was mainly due to higher revenue and lower operating expenses.

 

Earnings per share stood at 2.5 Singapore cents, up from 2.29 cents a year ago.

 

Total revenue grew 8 per cent year on year to S$137.6 million from S$128 million, mainly boosted by 26 per cent higher revenue contributions in H2.

 

Full-year revenue from dental and medical outlets increased by 6 per cent to S$126.4 million in FY2020, from S$119.2 million a year ago.

 

This comes as revenue from existing and new dental outlets in both Singapore and Malaysia - which includes profit-guarantee income - generated significantly more revenue in H2 than in the pre-Covid-19 period and compared to the corresponding period in FY2019, said the group.

 

As at end-2020, Q& M Dental had six more dental outlets across Singapore and Malaysia compared to the year before.

 

Key operating expenses for the full year fell 3 per cent to S$101.4 million from S$104.7 million, attributed to support received from the government' s Jobs Support Scheme and rental rebates in relation to Covid-19.

 

Share of profit from equity-accounted associates fell 96 per cent to S$159,000 from S$4.2 million a year ago as a result of the group' s reduced shareholding in Aidite, which is now 9.19 per cent as a result of the partial disposal in December 2019.

 

Excluding other gains and share of profit from equity-accounted associates, net profit jumped 322 per cent to S$19.3 million in FY2020 from S$4.6 million in the year-ago period.

 

The group has declared a second special interim dividend of 2.5 Singapore cents per share, which will be paid out on March 23. It said the special dividend is intended to " reward shareholders for the good performance in FY2020 despite Covid-19" , and also in view of the potential profit generated from its disposal of a remaining 12.2 per cent of the group' s shares in Aidite.

 

Its directors have recommended a final dividend of half a cent which will be paid out on May 25, subject to shareholder approval at its upcoming annual general meeting.

 

Ng Chin Siau, the group' s chief executive officer, said Q& M Dental intends to double its Covid-19 PCR laboratory-testing capacity to " capture a significant portion of the current 28,000 daily tests conducted by the Singapore government" , in view of the recently announced S$3.1 billion budget for Covid-19 testing, clinical management and contact tracing.

 

" To maintain our current position as the leading private dental healthcare group in Asia, we are targeting to open at least 30 dental outlets a year from 2021 in Singapore and Malaysia for the next 10 years. We are also launching the ethical artificial intelligence-enhanced guided dental treatment plan in Singapore by 2021," he said.

 

" With all the growth initiatives outlined above, we expect future profitability to be increasingly driven by core business rather than share of associate profit and one-off gain," Dr Ng added.