This printed article is located at http://straco-cn.listedcompany.com/chairman_statement.html

Extracted from the Annual Report 2022

EMERGING FROM A LONG WINTER

After 3 challenging years, the tourism sector can finally look forth to better times. With Singapore adjusting the Disease Outbreak Response System Condition (DORSCON) from yellow to green, and China relaxing its stringent Covid control measures, it became clear that the COVID-19 pandemic had finally abated. We have now seen the gradual removal of most, if not all, of the precautionary measures that were put in place at the height of the pandemic. This is significant for the revival of the tourism industry

Looking back, 2022 saw the gradual return of tourists to Singapore with the relaxing of quarantine, visa requirements and more flights taking off; by end 2022, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) had recorded visitor numbers of 6.3 million, one-third of its historical peak in 2019 just before the pandemic, while tourism receipts were estimated to reach $13.8 billion to $14.3 billion about 50 to 52 per cent of 2019 levels.

In China, an outbreak at the beginning of the year in Shanghai resulted in a city-wide lockdown. Shanghai Ocean Aquarium (SOA) was voluntarily closed during the period of lockdown, for the safety of both our staff and the general public. At the same time, we had taken the requisite measures to protect our assets; a core team of curatorial staff in Shanghai would stay in the aquarium to ensure the wellbeing and safety of our live specimens until the lifting of the lockdown.

In Xiamen and Xi’an, while there were no widespread lockdowns that necessitated closure of our attractions, stricter quarantine measures and restrictions on interprovincial travel resulted in domestic tourism grounding to a halt, with visitor numbers falling to a fraction of the year before. The Shanghai lockdown was finally lifted in June, although the strict testing and quarantine measures, along with border controls would only see significant easing in December 2022.

In summary, 2022 was to be the final but most challenging year of the pandemic for Straco, as China’s zero-Covid policy precipitated a sharp fall in revenue for our attractions from the preceding year. In Singapore, the gradual easing of Covid measures kick-started our tourism recovery and visitor numbers in Singapore - although the government’s transition to a post-Covid phase also meant the withdrawal of financial support in the form of job support schemes and tourism vouchers. Other factors would be due to the one-off arbitration award to the Group in 2021, as well as exchange losses as the Chinese yuan weakened against the Singapore dollar in the year.

For the year ended 31 December 2022, the Group registered net losses of $10.81 million, including exchange losses of $5.37 million; while net operating cash outflow was $2.99 million.

Notwithstanding the difficulties of the past year, our balance sheet remains strong with a net cash holding of $142.65 million. We will continue to deploy this cash for our regular asset enhancements, and will remain open to any collaborations or M&A opportunities that come our way.

We propose a first and final dividend of 1.0 cent per share. This is in appreciation of the continued support from our shareholders and various stakeholders, especially in the face of the challenges of the pandemic.

CAUTIOUS OPTIMISM FOR THE YEAR AHEAD

With the easing of community and border measures in Singapore and China, we are expecting a strong rebound in our visitor numbers in 2023, although headwinds to the global economy, including geopolitical tensions, rising inflation and labour shortages will continue to dampen growth as they have in the last three years. As we ramp up our operations with the general recovery, we will continue to adapt and innovate to ensure our long-term sustainability.

A WORD OF THANKS

As Singapore and China reopen, I would like to express my gratitude to our frontline teams, directors and business partners for supporting us throughout these past three years of the pandemic:

With the global economy still fraught with multiple challenges, we expect more bumps in the road ahead, but together with our battle-hardened teams, we will press on while staying firmly focused on our business fundamentals, sustainable development as well as generating new value through quality investments.

Wu Hsioh Kwang
Executive Chairman

请仔细阅读 免责声明及警告使用本网站即表示接受 网站使用条款
版权所有© 2024. ListedCompany.com. 保留所有权利。