Felicia Tan  Published on Mon, Jul 27, 2020 / 6:33 PM GMT+8 / Updated 15 hours ago

Maxi-Cash Financial Services reported 1H20 earnings of $10.1 million, an 80% surge, compared to the $5.6 million a year ago.

  Correspondingly, earnings per share (EPS) rose to 0.97 cents in 1H20, compared to the 0.54 cents in 1H19.

  Revenue for the period grew 11.8% y-o-y to $102.8 million, primarily attributable to  higher revenue from the pawnbroking business and the trading of jewellery and branded merchandise business.

  This was partially offset by the decrease in revenue from the jewellery retail, branded merchandise, and secured lending business.

  Depreciation and amortisation costs rose 26% y-o-y mainly due to the additional recognition of right-of-use assets following the adoption of SFRS(I) 16 leases for the new leases signed and additional properties acquired by the company.

 

  Finance costs increased marginally at 1% y-o-y primarily due to additional recognition of lease liabilities.

  Other operating expenses fell 4% y-o-y due to fluctuation of exchange rates.

  Maxi-Cash has proposed an interim dividend of 1.15 cents per ordinary share for the period, which will be paid out on August 14.

  As at June 30, cash and cash equivalents stood at $28.7 million, more than double the $12.8 million reported last year.

  In its outlook statement, Maxi-Cash says its pawnbroking and retail operations were impacted by the lockdown  and &ldquo various operating constraints&rdquo .

  &ldquo Although the Governments in our areas of operation have provided various short-term incentives and support, we will need to strengthen our product and service innovation and leverage on our network of stores and technology to increase efficiencies in our delivery of products and services to further mitigate the effect of the above challenges,&rdquo it says.