Japan Foods profit plummets 80%, halts expansion plans

The company has been significantly impacted by the pandemic.

Singapore company Japan Foods Holdings has seen its net profit crash by 80.2% in 2020, according to its latest results.

It will delay overseas expansion plans to focus on “optimising resources locally and preparing for further lifting of COVID-19 measures as Singapore looks to Phase 3.”

Japan Foods reported a net profit of $300,000 for HY2021, compared to $1.5m from the same time last year.

“The COVID-19 pandemic and government-imposed circuit breaker to curb the spread of the virus was devastating to the food and beverage industry especially between the months of April and June 2020,” Japan Foods Executive Chairman Takahashi Kenichi said. “Whilst our business has picked up since measures were gradually lifted from 2 June 2020, we are still not operating at full capacity because of safe distancing guidelines.”

This resulted in earnings per share dropping to $0.17 per share, an 80% drop from the previous $0.87 per share. Despite weaker performance, Japan Foods declared a tax-exempt, one-tier interim cash dividend of $0.75 cents per ordinary share.