Latest / Investor Exchange / Camsing Healthcare Second Quarter 2026 Results
Transcript
- 0:02Time for another Investor Exchange podcast. Here are your hosts, Matt and Sally.
- 0:07Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Today, we're taking a close look at Kamsing Healthcare Limited.
- 0:13That's right. Specifically, their Q2 results for the six-month ending July 31st, 2025.
- 0:18Yeah, and this isn't just, you know, reading off numbers. This is about understanding
- 0:22a company that's trying some pretty major financial surgery on itself. Hmm.
- 0:27In a tough sector, too, health, foods and supplements. It's volatile.
- 0:31OK, let's unpack this then. We've got the financials here detailing this attempt
- 0:35to restructure, get out of the red. Exactly.
- 0:38And because they've been doing quarterly reporting since, what,
- 0:412021, we have a pretty clear view.
- 0:44Right. So the key isn't just, oh, revenues down.
- 0:47Management practically told us that would happen with the restructuring.
- 0:50So what is the core question we're digging into? It's whether these big moves,
- 0:54closing stores, cutting costs are actually working long term.
- 0:57Are they creating sustainable savings or is the whole just getting deeper?
- 1:02OK, so for you listening, we're going to pinpoint where they succeeded in cutting costs.
- 1:07Maybe uncover some surprises where they didn't and figure out how stable this
- 1:12company really is looking ahead.
- 1:13Let's dive in. All right. Starting the top line, the revenue.
- 1:17Comparing this six month period to the same time last year. Well, it definitely shrank.
- 1:22Revenue fell by 21 percent. Dropped from $2,625,000 down to $2,080,000.
- 1:30A noticeable dip. It is, but again, you have to see the why.
- 1:34The company is pretty clear this was, you know, planned. How so?
- 1:36Where did the drop come from mostly?
- 1:38Well, if you look closer, the biggest hit was corporate sales.
- 1:41That almost halved. Halved.
- 1:43Yeah, down from about $659,000 to $315,000.
- 1:48And that lines up directly with their strategy. Which was about the retail outlets, right? Exactly.
- 1:52They decided to reorganize their whole retail setup. And the numbers back that up.
- 1:56The documents show they closed, what, eight retail outlets between March and August 2025.
- 2:01That's right. Leaving just four still operating. So they're deliberately getting smaller.
- 2:06If we connect this to the bigger picture, this kind of shrinkage isn't necessarily just market forces.
- 2:11It's them actively executing a plan. Shutting down stores they flagged as loss making.
- 2:17Precisely. But, and this is the important but, but strategically smaller hasn't
- 2:22meant profitable yet. Ah, so the bottom line.
- 2:25The group still recorded a loss before tax as $423,000 for these six months.
- 2:31How does that compare to last year?
- 2:33Slightly higher. Actually, last year it was $412,000, so a 3% increase in the loss.
- 2:39Okay, so revenue down by design, but loss is still creeping up a bit.
- 2:42What about the profit on the sales they did make, gross margin? That slipped a bit, too.
- 2:47Went from 56% last year down to 54% this period. And the reason given was?
- 2:52Change in the product mix. That's the official line. Hmm.
- 2:55Change in product mix. That can mean a few things, can it? It sure can.
- 2:59When you're closing eight stores that quickly, it might mean they had to,
- 3:02like, liquidate stock at lower prices.
- 3:04Fire sales, basically. To avoid moving it or storing it. Could be.
- 3:08Or maybe the customers they are keeping are shifting online and the products
- 3:12sold there just have lower margins than in those boutique stores they closed.
- 3:16Right. So a complex picture already.
- 3:18Revenue down as planned, margin under a bit of pressure, possibly from the restructuring
- 3:22itself. Yeah. And that brings us to the cost side.
- 3:26The whole strategy really hangs on whether they controlled expenses effectively.
- 3:30And this is where it gets, as I said, really interesting, because they were
- 3:34incredibly disciplined in some areas.
- 3:36Absolutely. Some big wins on cost control.
- 3:39But then ran into some surprising roadblocks elsewhere. Let's look at the wins first.
- 3:44Marketing and distribution costs, you'd expect these to fall with fewer stores.
- 3:47And they did, cut by a massive 44%. 44%? That's huge.
- 3:52How much is that in actual dollars? It's a saving of $787,000,
- 3:57down from S1.8 million dollars to just over S1 million dollars. Wow.
- 4:03Okay, how did they manage such a deep cut so fast?
- 4:06Well, the biggest piece was reduced depreciation on what they call right-of-use
- 4:09assets. Ah, the leases for the stores.
- 4:12Exactly. That value tied up in the long-term leases.
- 4:15It dropped from S572,000 dollars last year to just S36,000 dollars this year.
- 4:21Because they terminated the leases on those eight closed stores. Bingo.
- 4:24Wiped out that long-term paper cost almost immediately.
- 4:27They also slashed finance costs by 77%, down from S-293,000 to $66,000,
- 4:35mainly because they have lower outstanding loans now. Okay, so they seem to
- 4:38be doing exactly what you'd expect.
- 4:40Cutting costs tied directly to the closed stores, paying down debt.
- 4:44Getting leaner. They are.
- 4:45But, and here's the contradiction, the real aha moment in these numbers. Go on.
- 4:51Administrative and other operating expenses, you'd expect those maybe to stay
- 4:54flat or even dip slightly with fewer stores to manage, right? Yeah, absolutely.
- 4:57Less overhead. Instead, they actually increased by 26%. Increased by 26%. How?
- 5:04Went from $630,000 up to $791,000.
- 5:08Wait a minute. They close eight stores, save a fortune on the lease depreciation?
- 5:12But their admin costs go up. What's driving that? Their report says it's primarily
- 5:17due to higher rental costs incurred in the current period.
- 5:20Higher rental costs, but they just closed eight locations.
- 5:24How can rental costs go up? Are they stuck paying huge penalties or maybe leases
- 5:29on empty buildings they can't get out of yet?
- 5:31That's the million-dollar question, isn't it? It suggests the real estate liabilities
- 5:35are stickier and more complex than just shutting the doors.
- 5:39So that big saving on the right-of-use asset depreciation...
- 5:43This admin cost increase is working directly against it.
- 5:46Absolutely. It negates a big
- 5:48chunk of the progress they made on the marketing and distribution side.
- 5:51It's like one step forward, half a step back. It's a major operational snag in this report.
- 5:56And there was another factor dragging down the bottom line too, right?
- 5:58Other income? Yeah, that dropped significantly too by 61%. But that was mainly
- 6:03due to a one-off thing last year.
- 6:05Ah, okay. What was that? Last year's figure, S-853,000, included a huge non-repeatable
- 6:12item, waived interest on some borrowing when they resumed trading after a suspension.
- 6:18I see. So last year's loss looked a bit better than it might have otherwise
- 6:21because of that windfall.
- 6:23Exactly. They did get a small gain on terminating some leases this year,
- 6:27which helped other income a bit, but nowhere near enough to match that big waiver from last year.
- 6:31Got it. Okay. So performance-wise, deliberate revenue drop, slight margin pressure,
- 6:36great cost-cutting in some areas, but undermined by rising admin rental costs
- 6:41and less other income. That's a fair summary.
- 6:44Now, let's pivot from performance, the P&L, to the foundation, the balance sheet.
- 6:49Right. Because all this restructuring and ongoing losses must be putting pressure
- 6:53on their overall financial position. Serious pressure.
- 6:55As of July 31st, 2025, the group's net liabilities.
- 7:00Meaning debts outweigh assets. Correct. That figure stood at S, $5,683,000.
- 7:06And how does that compare to, say, the start of the year? It's worsened.
- 7:10Six months prior, it was $5,260,000. So the hole got about $400,000 deeper in six months.
- 7:17Okay, that's concerning. But what about day-to-day survival, cash?
- 7:20That's where it looks really precarious. Cash and bank balances were down to just F $37,000.
- 7:25$37,000 for the entire group. $37,000, down from $128,000 six months earlier. Wow.
- 7:33That's 37K or K in the bank for a listed company with millions in liabilities.
- 7:38They're running on fumes. That's less cash than a lot of small shops have. It is incredibly tight.
- 7:43They are absolutely living check to check, as you say. So how are they paying the bills?
- 7:47Borrowings must still be significant. Oh, definitely. Total borrowings are nearly
- 7:51$2.8 million, split between current and non-current.
- 7:56And where did the cash they did use come from? They must have needed cash injections. They did.
- 8:01The cash flow statement shows net cash from financing activities was S-253,000.
- 8:07Meaning new money came in. Yes. It came from two main sources,
- 8:11a S-400,000 loan from a controlling shareholder.
- 8:15Ah, the main owner stepping in. And another S-200,000 from a third-party lender.
- 8:19So basically, new loans kept the lights on. They're completely dependent on
- 8:23external financing right now.
- 8:24Which brings us to a critical point. It does. This raises an important question,
- 8:27the going concern concept. Right.
- 8:29Can they actually keep operating? The auditors must have looked at this. They did.
- 8:33And the sources clearly state there is a material uncertainty about the group's
- 8:38ability to continue as a going concern.
- 8:40That's serious language in a financial report.
- 8:42Minimal cash, growing net liabilities, ongoing losses.
- 8:46How can they even prepare these accounts, assuming they will survive the next
- 8:50year? There's only one reason they can.
- 8:53Which is? An explicit promise, an undertaking, from that controlling shareholder.
- 8:57The same one who provided this $400,000 loan. Yes.
- 9:01That shareholder has formally promised to provide the necessary financial support
- 9:05to ensure the group can pay its debts when they become due.
- 9:08So, without that personal guarantee, essentially. The whole basis of the financial
- 9:13statements would likely collapse.
- 9:15Auditors probably wouldn't sign off on a going concern basis otherwise.
- 9:18So the company's survival isn't really about its current operations or market strategy anymore.
- 9:24Not directly. It hinges almost entirely on the continued willingness and ability
- 9:28of one specific shareholder to keep funding the losses.
- 9:32That's a very different kind of risk for anyone else involved,
- 9:35like minority shareholders or creditors. It's quite opaque.
- 9:38Absolutely. It shifts the risk profile significantly. Okay, that paints a picture
- 9:41of, well, extreme financial dependence.
- 9:44Let's look ahead then. What's the plan?
- 9:47Given this reliance, how do
- 9:49they intend to get back on their own feet and climb out of this deficit?
- 9:53Well, management's commentary acknowledges the tough environment first.
- 9:57They say they expect uncertain global economic conditions to hit consumer sentiment
- 10:02in the next few quarters. So they're not expecting an easy ride from the market?
- 10:06No, it's a pretty sober outlook on the external factors. So what's the internal strategy to fight that?
- 10:11It seems to be built on three main pillars.
- 10:15First, develop new products.
- 10:17Second, push hard into new sales channels, specifically online. The digital pivot.
- 10:22Exactly. And third, keep a very tight lid on prudent cost management, they call it.
- 10:27Though obviously they need to fix that administrative cost issue we talked about. Right.
- 10:31Get lean, focus on product innovation, and really make that online channel work.
- 10:35That seems to be the core plan.
- 10:37Classic turnaround playbook in many ways.
- 10:40But a lot hinges on whether customers actually followed them online or to the
- 10:44remaining stores after those eight closures.
- 10:46Did they manage to keep them? They claim they did.
- 10:50The commentary says the company managed to retain most customers by redirecting
- 10:54them. To the four remaining stores or online. Correct.
- 10:58And crucially, they mentioned that the online channel has shown promise with
- 11:02an improved growth during the period. Okay, so that's the flicker of hope then.
- 11:06If that online growth is real and can scale up. That's potentially the way out.
- 11:10It needs to grow fast enough to offset the shrunken physical base and eventually
- 11:14cover those costs and start paying down debt.
- 11:17And in the meantime, that shareholder lifeline remains critical.
- 11:20Absolutely essential. And we see evidence of that even after this reporting period ended.
- 11:25Oh, what happened? On September 1st, 2025, just after these results,
- 11:29The company secured another S$200,000 loan from that same major shareholder.
- 11:36Interest-free this time. Wow.
- 11:38So the support is ongoing and immediate, confirms everything we just discussed
- 11:42about dependents. It really does.
- 11:44Okay, so let's try and summarize the key takeaways for you, the listener.
- 11:47We've got a company, Kamsing Healthcare, that's been bold in restructuring.
- 11:52Definitely executed the store closure part of the plan, cut related costs like
- 11:57lease depreciation significantly.
- 11:59But that success has been partly canceled out by some persistent financial issues. Right.
- 12:04Those rising administrative rental costs are a major puzzle and a drag.
- 12:09And the loss looks worse this year, partly because last year had that big one-off income boost.
- 12:14So what does this all mean? Well, it means Kamsing's financial stability isn't
- 12:18really in its own hands right now.
- 12:20It depends almost entirely on the controlling shareholders' willingness to keep funding it.
- 12:25The going concern note makes that crystal clear. There are survival hinges on
- 12:29that support continuing long enough for the online strategy to really take off.
- 12:32And for that online growth to be profitable enough to fix the underlying issues,
- 12:36like those sticky rental costs, and eventually start repaying those shareholder
- 12:40loans, it's a race against time funded by one key backer.
- 12:45Which leaves us with that provocative thought, that puzzle, really, for you to consider.
- 12:49They close aid stores, save big on depreciation.
- 12:53Yet admin expenses jump 26% because of higher rental costs.
- 12:59What complex, maybe hidden long-term liabilities are still buried in that physical
- 13:03store portfolio that stopped them getting the full cost savings,
- 13:07even when they shut locations down?
- 13:09That legacy complexity, that's the nut they still need to crack,
- 13:12even as they pivot online.
- 13:14A fascinating structural problem to keep an eye on indeed. Definitely one to
- 13:17watch. We'll be tracking it.
- 13:18Thanks for joining us on The Deep Dive. We'll catch you next time.