Aeon director: GST won’t affect group

KUALA LUMPUR: The implementation of the goods and services tax (GST)
in Malaysia is not expected to have any impact on retail group Aeon Co (M) Bhd’s earnings.
Executive director Poh Ying Loo said, as a result, there could be some cyclical effect on the consumption patterns of consumers “for a while.”
“But we expect it to normalise soon after,” he said after a shareholders’ meeting.
It
had been reported recently that Malaysia should be able to rake in up
to RM27bil in income if the GST was implemented at 7%, a rate similar to
that of Singapore.
However, the Government has yet to decide on when to introduce the new tax.
Aeon
reported a net profit of RM212.8mil for its financial year ended Dec
31, 2012 (FY12) against a net profit of RM195.4mil for FY11.
Revenue was also higher at RM3.26bil compared with RM2.98bil in FY11.
In
its annual report, Aeon said despite uncertainties in the global
economy and challenges in the external environment, domestic demand was
expected to remain one of the key drivers of economic growth this year.
“The retailing sector will benefit from this and the sustainable private sector spending.”
It said it remained committed to its long-term plan to open more stores in strategic locations nationwide.
As at November last year, Aeon had 25 department stores and four supermarkets that generated RM3bil in retail revenue.
The
company said in its annual report that it was on schedule to open a
three-level community shopping centre in Kulai, Johor, by year-end.
It had said last year that it intended to mark its presence in east Malaysia by 2015.
Aeon
has allocated some RM350mil in capital expenditure for this year, the
same as last year. It will use the money for the opening of the Kulai
store as well as refurbishing existing stores.
Aeon announced its
first quarter result ended March 31 yesterday that saw its net profit
soared to RM51.1mil from RM37.6mil a year ago.
This was on the back of revenue for the period that increased by 11.5% to RM869.3mil.