APE parent warns of 1Q loss as operating costs rise

Apr 22, 2019 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck  

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Asia Pioneer Entertainment Holdings Ltd is warning investors that it expects to have made a loss in the first quarter of 2019 that is even bigger than the net loss of HKD1.7 million (US$216,619) it made a year earlier.

Listed on the small-cap board at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Asia Pioneer Entertainment Holdings owns Macau-based gaming equipment distributor Asia Pioneer Entertainment Ltd (APE). Much of APE’s revenue is derived from sales and servicing of slot machines and other electronic table games, and taking slot machines nearing the end of their useful lives in Macau and selling them elsewhere.

After a first look at its unaudited results, Asia Pioneer Entertainment Holdings told the Hong Kong Stock Exchange last Thursday that the loss expected for the first quarter was due to greater operating expenses than a year earlier.

The company said it also expected its first-quarter revenue to have fallen. But it said the expected fall in revenue had been offset by a drop in its cost of sales and services, meaning it forecast a slightly greater gross profit in the first quarter than a year earlier.

Asia Pioneer Entertainment Holdings said it expected to announce its first-quarter results by May 10.

Last May, Asia Pioneer Entertainment Holdings reported a net loss of HKD1.7 million for the first quarter of 2018, having made a quarterly net profit of HKD505,556 a year earlier.

In March, Asia Pioneer Entertainment Holdings reported that its annual net profit rose to HKD20.70 million in 2018 from just over HKD4.49 million the year before, on revenue that grew to just under HKD109.62 million from just over HKD86.06 million. The company said listing expenses had curbed its net profit.

Asia Pioneer Entertainment Holdings floated its stock on the GEM, formerly known as the Growth Enterprise Market, at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in November 2017.

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