Challenger Technologies net profit jumps by 22% to $18.3m

On back of lower operating expenses.

The closer of its Malaysia retail operations provided the IT retailing firm with some elbow room, a as it resulted in lower operating expenses.

According to a press release by Challenger Technologies, net profit also soared due to higher government grants received.

Meanwhile, the firm’s revenue dropped by a single percent to $352.2m due to lower contributions from its retail revenue in Singapore and the loss of its revenues from its retail operations in Malaysia.

However, this was offset by higher corporate sales and writeback of deferred revenue on loyalty programme activities.

Loo Leong Thye, CEO of Challenger Technologies, believes 2016 will continue to be a challenging year for the retail industry at large.

“Weak market sentiment from last year will spill over into 2016. Hence, retailers like us have to keep innovating to retain existing customers and attract new ones,” Loo said.