On Nov 22, Lim Keen Ban Holdings acquired 1.6 million shares of Cortina Holdings : C41 0% at S$2.90 per share. This increased its substantial shareholding in Cortina Holdings above the 34 per cent threshold, from 33.74 per cent to 34.7 per cent.

 

Lim Keen Ban Holdings increased its direct interest above the 33 per cent threshold in April 2024, and above the 32 per cent threshold in October 2023.

 

Executive chairman Anthony Lim, group CEO and executive director Raymond Lim, group chief operating officer and executive director Jeremy Lim are deemed interested in the shares held by Lim Keen Ban Holdings through LKB Private Trust Company.

 

The acquisition saw Cortina Holdings rank as the 12th stock that booked the highest net institutional inflow for the five sessions. The group operates more than 40 boutiques in markets such as Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Australia.

 

On Nov 12, Cortina Holdings reported that its revenue for the first half of the 2025 financial year (ended Sep 30) increased by 5.5 per cent from H1 FY2024 to S$413 million, but the gross profit margin slightly decreased to 32.2 per cent.

 

Despite higher operating expenses due to increased rental and depreciation costs, the group maintained a healthy balance sheet with total equity of S$418.3 million, though H1 FY2025 profit after tax fell 8.6 per cent from the corresponding period in the previous year to S$31.1 million.

 

Competitor The Hour Glass also reports a 20% decrease in earnings

LUXURY watch retailer Cortina : C41 0% posted a 10 per cent drop in net profit to S$27.8 million for the first half of its 2025 fiscal year, down from S$30.9 million in H1 FY2024.

 

The decrease in net profit was due to the increase in operating expenses outpacing revenue growth for the half year ended Sep 30, the mainboard-listed company said on Tuesday (Nov 12).

 

Its H1 revenue was up 5.5 per cent at S$413 million, from S$391.3 million in the year-ago period.

 

But operating expenses &ndash comprising mainly staff costs, rental expenses, depreciation and other costs &ndash also rose, by 9.3 per cent to S$90.2 million.

 

The group attributed this to higher rental expenses and depreciation costs, including property, plant and equipment as well as right-of-use assets depreciation.

 

Cortina said that that this is in line with its strategic expansion plan. It added that the higher costs were incurred in the expansion of its new stores in the past six months.

 

It expects to remain profitable in the coming year, despite economic headwinds and barring unforeseen circumstances.

 

No dividend was declared for the period, as was the case a year ago.

 

Earnings per share stood at S$0.168 for H1 FY2025, down from S$0.187 in the year-ago period.

 

Competitor luxury watch retailer The Hour Glass also posted its financial results on Tuesday, reporting a 20 per cent decrease in H1 earnings in the first half to S$61.4 million, from S$77 million the year prior.

It proposes a final dividend of two Singapore cents per share, and a special dividend of 14 cents per share

 

LUXURY watch retailer Cortina : C41 0%posted a 22 per cent fall in net profit to S$30.2 million for its second half ended Mar 31, 2024, from S$38.6 million in the previous corresponding period.

 

The group said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday (May 28) evening that the lower profit was due to unfavourable exchange rate movements and increase in rental and renovation expenses due to major expansions in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Hong Kong.

 

Earnings per share stood at 36.9 Singapore cents for the year, down from 46.2 cents the previous year.

 

With the latest set of earnings, Cortina proposed a final dividend of two Singapore cents per share, and a special dividend of 14 cents per share, for shareholders&rsquo approval at the upcoming annual general meeting on Jul 26. The date payable will be announced later.

 

Meanwhile, revenue for the half year stayed unchanged at S$419.7 million from the year-ago period.

 

For the full year ended Mar 31, 2024, net profit was down 20 per cent to S$61.1 million, while revenue declined 2 per cent to S$811 million.

 

The group attributed the fall in full-year revenue to &ldquo macroeconomic conditions, which continue to be difficult and uncertain&rdquo .

 

Cortina&rsquo s half-year operating expenses &ndash comprising staff costs, rental expenses, depreciation and other expenses &ndash rose 10.3 per cent year on year to S$93.2 million. For the full year, operating expenses nudged up 7.3 per cent to S$175.7 million.

 

Cortina&rsquo s move to open 15 new boutiques across the region was with a medium to longer-term view of business growth, it said.

 

In the short term, however, the uncertain global economic outlook may negatively affect consumer sentiment, it noted. Nevertheless, it expects to remain profitable in the coming year, barring unforeseen circumstances.

 

LUXURY watch retailer Cortina Holdings : C41 0% posted an 18.5 per cent decline in net profit for the half-year ended Sep 30, 2023, to S$30.9 million, from S$37.9 million a year earlier.

 

Revenue for the half-year fell 3.8 per cent to S$391.3 million, from S$406.9 million the year before.

 

In its results release on Tuesday (Nov 14), the company attributed the decline to economic uncertainties due to rising interest rates, the weakening of some currencies in South-east Asia against the Singapore dollar and operational disruptions due to the expansion and renovation of outlets in Malaysia and Thailand.

 

Cortina&rsquo s operating expenses for the period also rose 4 per cent to S$82.5 million due to higher rental expenses, depreciation costs and right-of-use depreciation.

 

It added that this is in line with the group&rsquo s strategic expansion plan, which will be completed in the next 12 months in Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia and Taiwan.

 

This includes growing the number of boutiques in Hong Kong from one to four and expanding its stores in Singapore and Thailand.

 

No dividend was declared for the period, as was the case a year ago.

 

Earnings per share of the company stood at S$0.187 for the half-year, down from S$0.229 a year earlier.

On Oct 13, Lim Keen Ban Holdings acquired 1.6 million shares of Cortina Holdings at S$3.80 per share. With a consideration of S$6,080,000, this increased the direct interest of the substantial shareholding company in Cortina Holdings from 31.80 per cent to 32.77 per cent.

 

Executive chairman Anthony Lim Keen Ban, group chief executive officer and executive director Lim Jit Ming, group chief operating officer and executive director Lim Jit Yaw are deemed interested in the shares held by Lim Keen Ban Holdings through LKB Private Trust Company.

 

The acquisition saw Cortina Holdings rank among the 10 stocks that booked the highest net institutional inflow for the five sessions as discussed above.

 

The group operates over 40 boutiques in markets such as Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Australia.

LUXURY watch dealer Cortina Holdings : C41 0% has received a writ of summons from Sincere Brand Management requesting that the Hong Kong High Court restrain the former&rsquo s Hong Kong subsidiaries from selling Franck Muller watches.

 

In a bourse filing on Wednesday (Jun 28), Cortina said that the group has the exclusive right to distribute, promote and sell watches, accessories and spare parts bearing the &ldquo Franck Muller&rdquo and &ldquo Franck Muller Geneve&rdquo trademarks in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and mainland China by GFM Watchland SA.

 

The company understands that GFM has been granted the sole mandate for the worldwide distribution rights for Franck Muller watches and has the right to mandate sub-distributors like itself.

 

However, Sincere alleges that it had signed an exclusive distributorship agreement with Multicontinental Distribution Asia (MDA).

 

MDA then wrote to Sincere &ldquo purporting to terminate&rdquo the agreement, although Sincere alleges the grounds of termination that MDA relied on were invalid.

 

Cortina said that Sincere claims to have commenced arbitration proceedings in Switzerland against Shanghai Franck Muller Fine Watch Company, MDA, GFM and Franck Muller Watchland SA.

 

In its writ, Sincere is asking the Hong Kong High Court for an interim injunction to restrain Cortina&rsquo s Hong Kong subsidiaries and employee, Phua Cheng Kee, from selling Franck Muller products, including accessories and spare parts.

 

Cortina said that Sincere has applied to the court by an originating summons to restrain the former from distributing the products and taking any action to disturb Sincere&rsquo s alleged position as exclusive distributor pending the results of the Swiss arbitration.

 

In addition, Sincere is also claiming damages, equitable compensation and account as to profits for allegations such as procuring breach of contract, interference with business, conspiracy and passing off in respect of its rights as the alleged exclusive distributor.

 

The interlocutory application for the interim injunction was to be heard on Jun 23, but has since been adjourned till Jul 13.

 

Cortina said it intends to &ldquo vigorously&rdquo defend the writ, originating summons and the interlocutory application, and that it will make further announcements when there are material developments on the matter.

 

Watch retailer Cortina Holdings C41 0.00% says it was subjected to a &ldquo sophisticated cyber-attack&rdquo . According to the group, an unknown party had gained unauthorised access to one of the group&rsquo s servers and encrypted the information. The incident took place only recently.

 

The group says that it has since taken immediate steps to identify, contain and address the potential attack on the server including isolating the affected server. It has also contacted its external information technology consultant to help with the matter. The police and the Personal Data Protection Commission have been informed.

 

Affected parties will be contacted on June 7.

 

&ldquo The group will also continue to take steps to strengthen its cybersecurity. [It] takes information security very seriously and as part of this process, it is conducting a rigorous review of the incident and its systems to ensure that the data it is entrusted with is secure,&rdquo says the group.

 

The cyber-attack suffered by Cortina was announced a day after another retailer, Aspial Lifestyle, which runs the Goldheart jewellery brand, said around 42,000 customers' data had been compromised.

 

LUXURY watch retailer Cortina : C41 0% saw an 11 per cent fall in its net profit to S$38.6 million for H2 ended Mar 31, with its bottom line weighed by a one-off write-back.

 

The company&rsquo s revenue for the half-year had increased 7 per cent to S$419.7 million, thanks to a better sales mix and its strategy to introduce new brands, such as Jacob & Co, Laurent Ferrier and Parmigiani, Cortina said in its earnings report on Monday (May 29).

 

However, the company also had a one-off write-back of stock provision, as an exchange of inventory in the prior year was not present in the latest H2 period. Cortina&rsquo s operating expenses were also up 2.3 per cent to S$84.5 million, which it attributed to higher rental expenses with its new store, as well as charitable donations for its 50th anniversary.

 

On a full-year basis, Cortina&rsquo s net profit was up 11 per cent to S$76.5 million, on the back of a 15 per cent revenue increase to S$826.6 million. This included S$785 million in revenue from the retail segment, and S$159.5 million from the wholesale segment. Its full-year margin remained steady at 32.9 per cent.

 

With the latest set of earnings, Cortina proposed a final dividend of 2 cents per share and a special dividend of 14 cents per share. This is an increase from the 12 cents per share dividend in H2 last year &ndash comprising a 2-cent final dividend, 5-cent special dividend and another 5-cent dividend for the company&rsquo s 50th anniversary.

 

Looking ahead, Cortina noted that &ldquo the uncertain global economic outlook is likely to negatively affect consumer sentiment&rdquo , while business conditions have also become more challenging.

 

&ldquo Notwithstanding the headwinds, the group expects to remain profitable in the coming year, barring unforeseen circumstances,&rdquo it said. The company had S$166.5 million in cash as of end-March and S$15.7 million in borrowings.

On Apr 13, Cortina Holdings : C41 0% executive director Victor Yu Chuen Tek acquired 500,000 shares in a married deal at S$3.80 per share. With a consideration of S$1.9 million, this increased his total interest in the retailer and distributor of luxury timepieces from 9.82 per cent to 10.12 per cent.

 

Yu is also the chief corporate affairs officer of the group. His main portfolio includes overseeing all legal, secretarial, and public relations matters, investor relations and searching for and screening of potential M& A opportunities.

 

Yu&rsquo s acquisition followed Ming Yaw Pte Ltd, a substantial shareholder of Cortina Holdings, acquiring 1.6 million shares, also at S$3.80 per share, on April 12. This increased its direct interest in the company from 10.99 per cent to 11.96 per cent.

 

This also increased the deemed interests of executive chairman Anthony Lim Keen Ban, executive director and group CEO Raymond Lim Jit Ming and executive director Jeremy Lim Jit Yaw to 43.76 per cent.

 

Since Anthony Lim founded Cortina Watch in 1972, the group has grown from a humble store in Colombo Court, to a prominent retailer for fine luxury timepieces across Asia-Pacific.

 

Today, Cortina Holdings operates over 40 stores in markets such as Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Australia.

 

When asked last year who among the three leaders of the company make the decisions on how to grow the company, Anthony Lim maintained he is at the office daily, and has regular meetings to discuss everything from business development to potential opportunities.

 

He added that everyone can voice their ideas, concerns, and that very often, Raymond Lim and Jeremy Lim make suggestions on what&rsquo s next and they are both veterans in the industry, so their experience mitigates the amount of risk with each venture.

 

Back in November, Cortina Holdings maintained that it was proceeding with plans for both Cortina and Sincere to achieve significant growth, grow its customer base and improve customer experience.

 

The company added that Cortina would expand in Malaysia and had revived the Sincere Haute Horlogerie concept in Singapore, and plans are under way to expand this to Thailand.

 

The group recorded a profit after tax of S$41.3 million for its H1FY23 (ended Sep 30) largely attributable to higher revenue and better sales margin. This followed on from profit after tax of S$73.8 million for its FY22 and profit after tax of S$43.0 million for FY21.

The Lim family has grown Cortina Watch from a single shop at Colombo Court to a network of over 40 boutiques

 

The year 2021 was a watershed one for Cortina Holdings. In a pandemic-stricken year, the parent company of luxury watch retailer Cortina Watch forked out $84.7 million in cash to acquire the privately-held Sincere Fine Watches. 

 

Both Mr Raymond Lim and his younger brother, Mr Jeremy Lim, were also appointed as the CEO of Cortina Holdings and the CEO of Cortina Watch respectively, laying the foundations for a new era in the family business.

 

Since then, the duo has been working to continue the transformation of Cortina Watch into a leading 21st century retailer, while running more than 40 stores in Southeast and East Asia. 

 

Putting the customer first, every time

 

At Cortina Watch, customer centricity is a business philosophy that sits at the heart of everything they do. From its earliest days in 1972 when Mr Anthony Lim, the executive chairman of Cortina Holdings, founded the business, the retailer has advocated a customer-centric, personalised retail experience. 

 

The elder Mr Lim recalls how, when the business first launched at Colombo Court with a tiny store, he would have to deliver watches to businessmen who called and asked to see a watch. 

 

&ldquo Back then we didn&rsquo t have a public transport system like we do today, so the most efficient way was to cycle to them,&rdquo he laughs. &ldquo I had a briefcase and if a customer called and wanted to see some watches, we&rsquo d put together a selection of a few models and bring them to their offices.&rdquo  

 

Colombo Court was one of the first malls in Singapore&rsquo s emerging retail scene at the time. &ldquo We set up shop on High Street because that was where our customers were. The Mandarin name of the business (Gao Deng Zhong Biao) came from the department store within Colombo Court, and the English name came from the Ford Cortina, which was a popular car model at the time,&rdquo he fondly recalls. 

 

In 1980, when Mr Raymond Lim joined the family business, he realised that Cortina Watch needed to evolve as customer demands were changing. Rather than going to the customers, Cortina Watch had to draw them in, shaping how the retailer planned for its flagship store in Raffles City Shopping Centre in 1986.

 

Thinking out of the box

 

Over the decades, Cortina Watch has experimented with various retail innovations. One of Mr Raymond Lim&rsquo s most notable projects was Espace at Millenia Walk. 

 

In 2001, Cortina Watch unveiled the Espace boutique concept, which won the Singapore Retailers&rsquo Association &ldquo Best Retail Concept of the Year&rdquo award, at Millenia Walk. PHOTO: CORTINA WATCH

&ldquo At the time we had a small 1,000 sq ft store at the mall and the adjacent unit, which was eight times the size, was empty. I suggested to my father that we create a new store concept to counter one of the retail challenges we were facing at the time, which was the allocation of retail space to individual brands,&rdquo he notes. It took a few months before Mr Anthony Lim was convinced of the idea. 

 

Espace was a modular shop-in-shop concept where each brand would have their own space to create immersive brand experiences for customers. Espace won the &ldquo Best Retail Concept of the Year&rdquo award from the Singapore Retail Association in 2001, and the idea was expanded to other countries in Southeast Asia. 

 

Today, the learnings from Espace have been integrated into Cortina Watch&rsquo s new store designs. &ldquo We present fewer brand selections with deeper brand experiences and products, so our customers can discover these brands at their own pace,&rdquo notes Mr Raymond Lim. 

 

Right at the same time, Cortina Watch also launched Jewellery Time, a brainchild of Mr Raymond and Jeremy Lim. 

 

Mr and Mrs Anthony Lim with Hong Kong stars Leon Lai and Michelle Reis at the 2008 edition of Jewellery Time, a concept by Mr Raymond and Jeremy Lim. PHOTO: CORTINA WATCH

Jewellery Time was a multi-brand public exhibition featuring high jewellery watches, a genre of timepieces that Cortina Watch realised was untouched. 

 

&ldquo The event gave brands the opportunity to demonstrate their savoir faire in this segment and to showcase products they rarely exhibit to the public,&rdquo explains Mr Jeremy Lim. &ldquo It also gave us the opportunity to present our expertise and take the lead in this segment.&rdquo  

 

Today, high jewellery watchmaking has become a fast-growing segment in the industry.

 

The digital journey 

 

With digital experience in the watch industry gaining traction, Cortina Watch realised that it needs to once again go to its customers, and bring them to its channels.

 

Cortina Watch launched its first e-commerce site and stocked it with exclusive retail offerings in 2018 with brands such as TAG Heuer and Bell & Ross. PHOTO: CORTINA WATCH

&ldquo When we launched our e-commerce platform in 2018, the average customer was still cautious about spending five-digit sums to purchase a watch from a website, so we would recommend they visit the store to try on the watches first,&rdquo Mr Jeremy Lim shares. 

 

&ldquo Today, we have a programme that completes the loop from online to offline and back, through a fully linked CRM system, as well as digital events such as virtual manufacture visits, through which our customers can have a glimpse of what would usually be rare opportunities reserved for special clients.&rdquo

 

Whether it is 1972 or 2022, Cortina Watch&rsquo s customer-first policy remains unchanged, and it looks set to guide the company to its next milestone anniversary.

LUXURY watch retailer Cortina Holdings on Friday (Nov 11) reported a 49 per cent jump in net profit for its first half, on the back of higher revenue.

 

Net profit for the six months ended Sep 30, 2022, rose to S$37.9 million from S$25.4 million in the year-ago period. On a per share basis, this represented an increase in earnings to S$0.229 from S$0.154 a year earlier.

 

Cortina Holdings said the better profit came from higher revenue and better sales margin.

 

Revenue for the first half rose to S$406.9 million, up 25.3 per cent from the corresponding period a year earlier. Its sales margin also improved to 32.7 per cent in the first half, compared to 30.2 per cent in the prior year period.

 

The group said it is proceeding with plans for both Cortina and Sincere to &ldquo achieve significant growth&rdquo . 

 

&ldquo We aim to grow our customer base and improve our customer experience. Cortina will expand in Malaysia within the next 12 months and revitalise the quality of our customer experience in their land,&rdquo Cortina Holdings said.

 

It added that it has revived the Sincere Haute Horlogerie concept in Singapore, and plans are underway to expand this to Thailand.

 

Cortina Holding&rsquo s net asset value per share rose to S$1.977 as at Sep 30, 2022, from S$1.90 at the end of its financial year in March 2022.

 

No dividend was declared, unchanged from a year ago, as it is not its practice to declare interim dividends.

CORTINA Holdings will buy over the fourth level of 15 Scotts Road, a freehold commercial building, from Singapore Institute of Management Group for S$49 million, the luxury watch retailer and distributor announced on Tuesday (Oct 4).

 

In a bourse filing, the mainboard-listed company said the proposed acquisition came as the group foresees needing more office space given that it envisages &ldquo organic growth&rdquo in the near term, but prefers to own rather than rent the space from others.

 

Currently, the group&rsquo s offices in Singapore operate from leased premises. Some of the leases would terminate in the near term, it pointed out.

 

&ldquo The property would be able to satisfy our group&rsquo s need for office space in the near term when the existing tenancies to which the property is subject terminate at the end of their terms,&rdquo it said.

 

If the sale goes through, the company&rsquo s earnings per share is expected to rise to 41.7 Singapore cents, from 41.5 cents, based on the assumption that the proposed acquisition had been effected at the beginning of the 2022 financial year, Cortina pointed out.

 

Cortina intends to pay for the property in cash. So far, it said it has paid S$490,000 to be granted the option to purchase. It now has till 4 pm on Oct 14 to exercise the option, upon which another S$1.96 million is due.

The rest of the sum will be paid by Dec 1, the date of the sale&rsquo s completion, it added.

WATCH retailers Cortina Holdings and The Hour Glass both clocked substantial improvements in revenue and net profit in their latest financial results.

 

The Hour Glass' s revenue rose by 63 per cent to S$472.4 million and earnings surged 110 per cent to S$62.6 million in the half year to September.

 

Its rival Cortina Holdings reported an 86.7 per cent jump in revenue to S$324.6 million, while net profit improved by 74 per cent to S$25.4 million.

 

Higher revenue and gross margins of about 30 per cent were factors that contributed to the better performance of the retailers.

 

Notably, it was stated in the financial reports that the businesses of the two retailers were " not affected significantly by seasonal or cyclical factors during the financial period" .

 

In its financial statement, The Hour Glass added that consumer sentiment within the watch industry remains favourable despite pandemic-induced periodic disruptions to social and business activities.

 

In fact, over at Cortina, other liabilities increased by S$15.3 million as a result of an increase in advance deposits from customers.

 

Such was the resilience of the industry, which has been bolstered by demand that diverted from services to goods amid the pandemic-induced restricted movements, low interest rates and bullish stock markets.

 

Drawn by the resilience and strength of the luxury watch industry, Incredible Holdings is joining hands with Ntegrator International to acquire a watch business in Hong Kong, taking stakes of 42 per cent and 55 per cent, respectively, with the remainder to be owned by Christian Kwok-Leun Yau Heilesen, the executive director of both Catalist-listed companies.

 

Would such bullishness last? International and local numbers show that the going is good.

 

The Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry reported on Dec 21 that exports reached 2.2 billion Swiss francs (S$3.2 billion) in November, making it the best monthly result since October 2014.

 

Also, it noted watches made from precious metals reported " very high demand" as export value of such timepieces rose 18.4 per cent compared to pre-pandemic levels and generated more than half of the overall increase for November.

 

Total export value for watches priced at over 3,000 Swiss francs increased in November by 16 per cent. Export value for those priced between 500 and 3,000 Swiss francs declined by 2.3 per cent and those below 500 Swiss francs saw a significantly more marked decline - as in previous months.

 

Singapore slid a notch to seventh position in the ranking of markets by export value last month, at 120.3 million Swiss francs. This value was 21.7 per cent higher than last year' s, but was 16.8 per cent lower than pre-pandemic levels.

 

On a year-to-date-basis, however, it took sixth position at over 1.1 billion Swiss francs, up 39 per cent year on year, or flat compared to pre-pandemic.

 

Meanwhile, statistics from the Department of Statistics Singapore show retail sales for watches and jewellery rose 27 per cent in October on a year-on-year basis and 4 per cent on a seasonally adjusted month-on-month basis - due mainly to greater demand for watches.

 

At current levels, the chief worry of investors is if shares of Cortina and The Hour Glass are overbought.

 

Cortina has more than doubled in price this year, closing on Wednesday (Dec 22) at S$4.15. That gives the counter a market capitalisation of S$687.2 million and a price-to-earnings multiple of 13.6 times.

 

The Hour Glass, meanwhile, is up 150 per cent year to date. Based on its close on Wednesday at S$2, it has a market value of over S$1.3 billion and trades at about 12.1 times its historical earnings.

 

There are some potential earnings drivers for both stocks next year.

 

For one, continued closures of borders and movement curbs due to the Omicron variant may help support demand for goods. While there were initial concerns that a dearth of tourism would hurt sales, the reverse has proved true.

 

Also, the Singapore government' s recent moves to tame the property market may well benefit the luxury timepieces industry. In the Chinese market, property cooling measures have already caused some to spend more on luxury watches as investments instead.

 

MAINBOARD-LISTED Cortina Holdings Cortina: C41 0% ' earnings surged 74 per cent to S$25.4 million in the first half of its financial year ended Sep 30, 2021, from S$14.6 million a year ago.

 

Earnings per share stood at S$0.154 for the half year, up from S$0.088 a year earlier.

 

Revenue rose in tandem by 87 per cent to S$324.6 million for the same period, from S$173.8 million the year before.

 

The company attributed the increase in revenue to easing Covid-19 restrictions in Singapore and Thailand, as well as additional revenue from Sincere Watch, which the company acquired for S$84.7 million in March 2021.

 

Sales margins also contributed to higher profits, improving to 30 per cent in the latest half year, compared to 28 per cent from the year before.

 

However, the company also noted that its operating expenses rose 81.6 per cent to S$63.9 million, largely due to the additional expense of the newly acquired Sincere Watch, higher sales-related expenses such as salesman commission and credit card commission, as well as higher marketing expenses for brand development.

 

As uncertainties remain due to the continuing pandemic, the group has also drawn down S$50 million in bank borrowings to strengthen its working capital.

 

Cortina expects the group to remain profitable, barring any unforeseen circumstances.

 

No dividend was declared for this period of the financial year, as was the case a year ago.