TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Nov 28, 2014) - Symax Lift (Holdings) Co. Ltd. (TSX VENTURE:SYL) ("Symax" or the "Company") announces its financial results for the three-month period ending September 30, 2014.

Highlights

  • Sales increased to $9.55 million during the third quarter in 2014, representing a 7% increase over $8.91 million in the same quarter of the previous year.
  • The increase was mainly due to the Company's marketing and selling strategy being adjusted to focus on the increasing demand from Chinese government sponsored housing projects, developments in Chinese Tier 3and Tier 4 cities as well as smaller Tier 2 cities. In addition, the recent restructuring of Symax's sales team and sales network to cover the whole of China except for Tibet has delivered positive results. However, the increase was lower than expected as some customers requested the delivery on their orders be postponed because projects were being postponed due to lack of funding.
  • Gross profit increased to $2.72 million during the third quarter in 2014, representing a 16% increase over $2.35 million in the same quarter of the previous year. Gross margin improved to 28% in this quarter, compared to 26% in the same quarter of the previous year. This resulted from higher selling price, lower purchase prices for product components and product design improvements.
  • Operation expenses increased by 32% to $2.38 million during the third quarter in 2014 over the same quarter of previous year. Over 85% of this rise was from increased G&A expense, including increases to R&D on the Company's stairlift products and new elevator models, start-up costs for Symax American, and management personnel cost increases associated with several senior managers being hired in late 2013 and early 2014.
  • Net income was $0.16 million ($0.01 per share) during the third quarter in 2014, representing a 32% decrease, compared to $0.23 ($0.01 per share)in the same quarter of the previous year.
  • EBITDA was $0.60 million during the third quarter of 2014, representing a decrease of 22% over $0.77 million in the same quarter of the previous year.

SUMMARY FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

in thousands of Canadian dollars except per share and percentage data Three Months Ended September 30
2014 2013 % Change
Sales 9,552 8,910 7%
Gross profit 2,717 2,348 16%
Gross margin 28% 26%
Operating expenses 2,377 1,803 32%
Operating income 340 545 (38%)
Other income (loss) (113) (244) (54%)
Income taxes 70 69 1%
Net income 157 232 (32%)
EBITDA 598 769 (22%)
Earnings per share - basic $0.01 $0.01
Earnings per share - diluted $0.00 $0.01
30-Sep-14 31-Dec-13
Total assets 57,760 49,089
Current liabilities 37,893 33,309
Long term liabilities 6,204 4,562
Shareholders' equity 13,663 11,218

"Benefiting from successful adjustments to the Company's marketing and selling strategy, a restructured sales team and sales network, Symax's sales growth has continued in 2014. Sales increased by 7% in the third quarter, although these were lower than expectation due to the slowdown of the Chinese real estate market," stated Ms. Sabrina Zhang, CEO of Symax "The slowdown is expected to continue into 2015. As a result, we will try to expand sales into overseas markets and reduce our costs so as to deliver better bottom line results as we move forward."

About Symax Lift Holdings

Symax is in the business of the development, manufacturing, and sale of elevators, as well as the provision of after-sales services in China and worldwide. Symax's products and services are classified into two separate offerings; a main line of standardized products which include passenger elevators, goods/freight elevators, villa elevators, panorama elevators, hospital elevators, residential and commercial escalators and moving walkways; and customized elevator products.

This news release contains certain statements that may be deemed "forward looking statements". Forward looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects,", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in forward looking statements. Forward looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made. The Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward looking statements, except as required by law, in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change.