GHY Culture & Media Holding has generated higher revenue of $73.7 million for FY2023, up 61% over the preceding year, as its businesses of film, drama and concert productions recovered from the pandemic.
However, no thanks to a credit loss allowance of $6.6 million, its bottom line remained at a loss of $9.8 million, slightly reduced from the preceding FY2022's $10.5 million.
The company, with its extensive operations in China, saw its earnings further hurt by unfavourable forex, as the RMB weakened against the reporting currency Singdollar, causing a $4.4 million hit.
GHY notes that if not for these items, it would have ended the year with earnings of $0.7 million instead.
The company further points out that as at Dec 31 2023, it held cash and equivalents of $51.1 million.
As such, despite the losses, the company plans to pay a dividend of 0.1 cents.
See also: IHH Healthcare’s 3QFY2024 patmi remains flat at RM534 mil
"We believe that our financial results in recent years have not matched our intrinsic strengths," says executive chairman and group CEO Guo Jingyu.
"There is much more to do, and with the momentum in FY2023, we will sharpen our performance focus to return back to profitability, which remains our first priority."
In an earlier announcement on Feb 27, which falls after the FY2023 numbers, GHY says it has estimated it will suffer a loss of some $17.9 million, after a spiked bid to organise a football show featuring former star Cristiano Ronaldo.
See also: Marco Polo Marine reports lower 2HFY2024 earnings of $10.7 mil, down 42% y-o-y
Last November, the company announced it is paying US$10 million for the rights to bring in the Al Nassr Club Company, where the Portuguese player now plays, to take part in a soccer tournament in China in late-January.
However, in an update on Jan 24, GHY said that Ronaldo could not play as he was injured and the tournament was thereby cancelled.
GHY says it will make "best efforts" to reduce the loss with follow-up talks with Al Nassr, by for example, offsetting the amount paid against fees for a replacement match, if any.
GHY shares closed at 30 cents on Feb 29, down 7.69% for the day and down 28.57% over the past 12 months.
