Far East Orchard reported Tuesday its third quarter swung to a net loss of S$406,000 from a year-earlier net profit of S$564,000 as currency exchange losses widened.
The net currency exchange losses more than doubled to S$2.82 million for the quarter from S$1.37 million in the year-ago period, on the weaker Australian dollar against the Singapore dollar on Australian dollar-denominated monetary assets, Far East Orchard said in a filing to SGX.
The stronger Japanese yen against the Singapore dollar also impacted yen-denominated borrowing, the filing said.
Excluding the foreign-currency translation losses, Far East Orchard would have posted a net profit of S$1.7 million, the filing said.
Sales for the quarter ended 30 September rose 2.2 percent on-year to S$36.82 million, the company said.
“This was attributable to higher sales from our student accommodation business in the United Kingdom and increase in management fees from the management services segment in Singapore from hotels under management at Sentosa,” the company said. “The increase was partially offset by the lower sales from our hospitality business in Australia and Malaysia due to the weak market conditions.”
The share of profit from joint ventures fell 54.6 percent on-year to S$933,000 for the quarter, the filing said.
“The decrease was mainly due to decline in the performance of the hotels in Australia of the group’s hospitality joint ventures in Australia, coupled with under-provision of income tax expense for the previous quarter by the joint venture,” Far East Orchard said.
For the nine-month period, Far East Orchard reported net profit dropped 44.8 percent on-year to S$5.40 million, on sales of S$112.08 million, up 0.7 percent on-year.
