Caring Pharmacy sees 83.94% rise in 1QFY16 earnings

by **Cals** Thu 29 Oct 2015, 00:57

Caring Pharmacy sees 83.94% rise in 1QFY16 earnings

By Azril Annuar / theedgemarkets.com | October 28, 2015 : 9:27 PM MYT

KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 28): [size=16]Caring Pharmacy Group Bhd ([You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] Valuation: N/A, Fundamental: N/A) reported a 83.94% increase in its net profit for its first quarter ended Aug 31, 2015 (1QFY16) to RM1.02 million from RM554,000 a year ago, due to the opening of a total 12 new outlets in FY15 and the recently-concluded quarter.

“During the quarter under review, we have established an additional two new shopping complex outlets, one high street outlet and closed down one specialty retail outlet. As of Aug 31, 2015, we have a total of 106 community pharmacies.

“The increase in profit before taxation for the current quarter, compared to the corresponding quarter in the preceding year, is mainly contributed by higher revenue achieved, coupled with the relatively consistent gross profit margin,” the group said in its announcement to Bursa Malaysia today.

The group reported a 4.7% increase in revenue to RM92.55 million for 1QFY16, from RM88.4 million last year.

Looking forward, the group pointed out that the recent zero-rated medical items announced in Budget 2016 may improve retail pharmacy market sentiment. Therefore, the group expects to perform profitably.

“In the recent Budget 2016, the government has announced that the number of zero-rated GST medicines has been doubled from 4,215 to 8,630.

“The revised GST-free products include some of controlled medicines under the Poisons List Group A, B, C and D; as well as additional 95 brands of over-the-counter medicines [which] cater for 30 types of illness treatments for cancer, diabetes hypertension, heart disease and others.

“This latest announcement may improve the retail pharmacy market sentiment,” said the group.

Caring Pharmacy’s shares closed at RM2.06 today, rising 0.49% or 1 sen, with 235,000 shares being traded for a market capitalisation of RM446.3 million.
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