B.Duck Semk Holdings International Limited provided preliminary unaudited consolidated group earnings guidance for the year ended 31 December 2023. For the year, the group expects to record a loss attributable to the owners of the company of not less than HKD 40.0 million, as compared with a profit attributable to the owners of the company of approximately HKD 75.6 million for the year ended 31 December 2022. The Board considerd that such expected loss attributable to the owners of the Company was mainly attributable to the following reasons: recognition of share-based compensation relating to awarded shares granted under the share award scheme of the Company in order to provide key employees with incentives for continual operation and development of the Group; the decrease in gross profit margin for e-commerce business as a result of the Group's prioritized utilization of accumulated inventory balance of merchandise from the previous years in one go; the decrease in overall revenue and other income including a drop in revenue generated from the Group's character licensing business due to a decrease in additional royalties collected from the licensees due to the weakened consumer sentiment during FY2023; and to actively promote the construction of the Internet Grand Entertainment Centre which is dedicated to the research and development and production of games and sales of derivative merchandizes; and establish a design team which applies AI techniques and strengthens creativity resulting in an increase in overall expenses.