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ANNUAL REPORT 2013
CHAIRMAN’S STATEMENT
included ensuring that Willas-Array adopted the best practices in corporate governance. We thank them both for their
contributions and wish them a happy retirement!
YEAR IN REVIEW
In FY2013, the Group continued to be affected by the economic woes of Europe and the US that led to poor consumer
sentiment for electronics. As a result, our revenue fell 3.2% from HK$3,262.1 million in FY2012 to HK$3,157.6 million
in FY2013.
On the bright side, Willas-Array’s gross margin benefitted from a more stable demand and supply situation during the year
and improved from 9.28% in FY2012, to 9.68% in FY2013.
The Group continued to face rising costs such as wages and raw material prices in FY2013, which we dealt with by
being prudent in our expenditure. We were able to maintain our administrative expenditure at similar levels, while our
distribution costs fell 22.8% to HK$30.1 million due mainly to a reduction in sales incentives paid out to our sales staff as
a result of lower sales volumes. Our finance costs rose 4.6% to HK$16.2 million because of an increase in trust receipt
loans. As a result, we were able to keep overall costs at bay. The net effect was a 3.0% increase in earnings to HK$45.8
million.
Based on a weighted average number of 372,720,000 ordinary shares in issue, earnings per share was 12.30 HK
cents and net asset value per share was 147.09 HK cents as at March 31, 2013. This is as compared to FY2012 when
there were weighted average number of 371,421,413 ordinary shares in issue and earnings per share was 11.99 HK
cents while net asset value per share was 142.80 HK cents. Cash and cash equivalents stood at a healthy HK$390.4
million.
BUILDING ON OUR STRENGTHS
During the year in review, we announced several developments aimed at building on our strengths as well as reinforcing
the Group’s operations and position in our two key markets of Hong Kong and Mainland China.
In November 2012, we announced a joint venture agreement with G.M.I. Technology Inc., a premier Taiwan-based
electronics distributor listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange. Under the agreement, a joint venture company by the name
of GW Electronics Company Limited was formed and awarded the distributorship rights by Toshiba Semiconductor to
distribute its products in mainland China and Hong Kong since early 2013. We believe the joint venture marked another
important milestone in the Group’s strategy to deepen our market penetration in the Greater China region.
Then in March 2013, we announced our intention to seek a dual primary listing of our ordinary shares on the Main Board
of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (the “Proposed HK Listing”) because we wanted to take advantage of the
strength of the Willas-Array brand in our key markets.
Over the years, the Group’s business has evolved to focus strongly on the China market where it has become a familiar
and established brand name. We believe the Proposed HK Listing will give Willas-Array greater exposure to potential
investors in both China and Hong Kong, in line with our operational focus. In addition, being listed in both Singapore and