Singer sees 23% profit rise

Vice chairman and manager direc¬tor Daniel Michel Philiponet reported to the Stock Exchange of Thailand that the company's earnings per share of Bt0.05 also showed an improvement, up from Bt0.04 at the end of the first quarter and negative Bt0.43 during the same period a year ago.

However, Singer reported a 11.8percent fall in revenue, from Bt697.7 mil¬lion at the end of the same quarter a year ago to Bt615.3 million. That was mainly due to a drop in sales following the policy to shift its core business from motorcycle hire purchase to home electrical appliances. Sales of motorcycles plummeted 78.4 per cent or Bt94.6 million, while sales of home electrical appliances increased by 7.8 per cent or Bt32.2 million.

"Our TV commercials highlighting multibrands and multiproducts tradein strategy have been so over¬whelmingly received that we plan to keep them on until the end of the year, taking advantage of the opportunity of a huge replacement business for the company," Philiponet said.

He said the company had success¬fully undergone a metamorphosis, converting a core business based on motorcycles into one based on electri¬cal home appliances. The change was reflected in the second quarter, in which the motorcycle business accounted for only 5.5 per cent of gross sales.