In its 1HFY2025, ended September, results released on Nov 13, Yoma Strategic Holdings announced that revenue had declined 15% y-o-y to US$111.6 million due to a 55% depreciation in the Myanmar Kyat (MMK).
In local currency terms, revenue would have grown 35% y-o-y, supported by an 81% jump in Yoma Land revenue.
On the upside, PhillipCapital analyst Paul Chew notes that Yoma Land’s development revenue rose 81.2% y-o-y in MMK terms, although a 10.4% rise to US$52.9 million was reported due to currency depreciation.
Chew adds that the revenue recognition was from Starcity, City Loft West and Estella, with the lower earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) margin attributed to a higher contribution from Estella.
However, Yoma Strategic’s net loss grew to US$12.5 million driven mainly by a US$7 million translation loss from Thai baht and US dollar borrowings.
While interest expenses remained stable at US$10.5 million, the increase in finance cost from US$8.3 million to US$18.8 million was due to a translation loss.
Furthermore, there was a disruption in Wave Money transfers, with over the counter (OTC) transaction volumes falling 28.4% y-o-y, leading to a revenue decline of 16% y-o-y in MMK terms.
Chew attributes this to physical cash shortages in July and intensified conflicts in Northern Myanmar and severe flooding in August and September.
Despite this, Chew notes that liquidity constraints have improved and Wave Money has 9.1 million active users. While OTC volumes have decreased, digital transactions have doubled y-o-y as use cases or application widened and the user base improved.
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Yoma will diversify its funding sources to mitigate currency risk by tapping into local currency bank loans. Other measures include adjusting pricing strategies across products and services.
Yoma Strategic’s aim is to continue to deleverage from the current net debt of US$142 million to below US$100 million, excluding the Yoma Central project loan facility.
Additionally, Chew notes that Yoma Land’s focus is on completing and delivering existing projects from its US$110 million backlog, with most of the costs already locked in.
Chew expects prices for new launches to rise given that property prices have historically been linked to movements in currency.
With regards to the food and beverage segment, gross margins have been sustained at 50% from several rounds of price increases.
“Same-store sales growth remains robust at 42.6% y-o-y but earnings before ebitda margins are under pressure from diesel or utility cost due to electricity outages,” Chew adds.
As at 10.50am, units in Yoma Strategic are trading 0.2 cents higher or 3.13% up at 6.6 cents.
