The Straits Times / The Business Times News on OSIM

OSIM sits pretty with record profits for first quarter

MASSAGE chair maker OSIM International is sitting pretty, yesterday posting a record net profit for the first three months of this year.

This jumped 56 per cent to $8.1 million, amid a 26 per cent surge in revenues to $86.8 million.

The mainboard-listed company attributed the strong performance to broad-based growth across all key markets as its range of products appealed to a broad customer spectrum.

Taking off: Mr Sim (right), seen with Brookstone CEO Michael Anthony, says OSIM expects full-year performance to exceed that of the previous year. Its proposed acquisition of Brookstone is expected to broaden operations even further.

OSIM also said the results exceeded its long-term target of between 20 per cent and 30 per cent growth in earnings.

In terms of revenue, OSIM said that South Asia - which includes the key markets of Singapore and Malaysia - had posted the best results, with a 54 per cent growth to $26 million.

OSIM founder and chief executive officer Ron Sim said at a conference yesterday that both the Singapore and Malaysia markets had enjoyed excellent growth.

'Malaysia rebounded strongly after a poor performance in the first quarter last year, which was caused by disruptions arising from the shifting of the headquarters there. They are very much back on track now,' he said.

OSIM's North Asia operations added 17 per cent to revenue, with Hong Kong achieving the strongest performance there.

The company said in a statement: 'The combination of a continuous enhancement of the OSIM brand and a consistent execution of business strategy contributed to the improvement in group profit before tax margin.'

Taxes were lower than the corresponding period last year because of 'tax incentives', it said.

Earnings per share rose to 1.81 cents from 1.17 cents previously, while net asset value per share also improved to 30 cents from 28 cents.

Mr Sim said that OSIM expected full-year revenue and net profit to exceed that of the previous year.

The purchase of Global Active and the proposed acquisition of United States retailer Brookstone are also expected to transform and broaden operations.

OSIM's unconditional offer for Global Active closes this afternoon. Mr Sim said that as of yesterday, OSIM had received acceptances for its offer taking its stake in Global Active to some 66 per cent.

OSIM's stock closed two cents higher yesterday at $1.08.