EF
TSE SUI LUEN JEWELLERY (HOLDINGS) LIMITED
謝瑞麟珠寳(集團)有限な J
ANNOUNCEMENT
I am pleased to announce that the Group achieved record sales of $833.1 million and net profit of $71.3 million for the year ended 29th February, 1988 compared with $448 million and $37 million respectively for the eleven months ended 28th February, 1987. Earnings per share for the year amounted to 17.9 cents.
The following is a summary of the Group's audited consolidated results for the year ended 29th February, 1988 and audited combined results for the eleven months ended 28th February, 1987 as extracted from the 1988 audited financial statements and the prospectus dated 5th June, 1987 respectively:
Turnover
Trading profit
Investment and rental income
Operating profit
Interest expenses
net
Profit before taxation
Taxation
Profit after taxation but before minority interests
Minority's share of loss net
Profit attributable to shareholders
Dividends
Profit for the year/period, retained
Earnings per share
Dividends per share
Notes:
(1)
11 months ended 28th February, 1987
$'000
447,990
====
50,918
Note
Year ended 29th February, 1988
$'000
833,089
85,113
8,954
391
94,067
51,309
9,849
7,298
84,218
44,011
13,317
6,974
70,901
37,037
367
71,268
37,037
(1)
(2)
17.9 cents
=====
10.64 cents
47,170
2,500
24,098
34,537
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N/A
N/A
The dividends for the eleven months ended 28th February, 1987 was payable by a subsidiary company to its shareholders. (2) The earnings per share was calculated based on the weighted average number of 398,145,000 shares in issue during the year. (3) No comparative figures for earnings per share and dividends per share are presented as the Company was a private company
for the eleven months ended 28th February, 1987.
DIVIDENDS AND WARRANTS
The Directors declared on 23rd June, 1988 a special interim dividend in lieu of final dividend of 7.1 cents per share which will be paid to shareholders whose names appear on the register of members of the Company on 14th July, 1988. This, together with the interim dividend of 3.54 cents paid on 31st December, 1987, will make a total distribution of 10.64 cents per share for the year ended 29th February, 1988, which is in line with the dividend forecast stated in the prospectus of the Company dated 5th June, 1987. Payment of this special interim dividend will be made on 1st August, 1988.
The Company has also previously made a bonus issue of new warrants on the basis of one 1992 warrant and one 1994 warrant for each share held on 3rd June, 1988. Particulars of this bonus issue of warrants were set out in the circular to shareholders dated 11th May, 1988.
BUSINESS REVIEW
Jewellery
1987 was a prosperous year for Hong Kong's jewellery industry and the Group was able to achieve outstanding results in both its export and local jewellery businesses.
The Group's domestic jewellery business benefitted significantly from Hong Kong's flourishing tourist industry. Our Summit Building showroom, which caters mainly to tourists, achieved increased sales of $162.8 million for the year ended 29th February, 1988 as compared with $96.9 million for the eleven months ended 28th February, 1987. The growth of the local economy also resulted in higher domestic consumption of jewellery. During the year, the number of the Group's retail outlets was increased to nine and total sales of $384.4 million was achieved by our local retail operation. In addition, the demand for 24 karat gold jewellery expe- rienced a higher growth rate than expected. The Group's wholesale business has remained relatively stable as the Group's efforts have been concentrated primarily on its retail business.
The Group's export business achieved a reasonable growth rate during the year under review. This was due mainly to the