Dear Shareholders, On behalf of the Board of Directors of IPC Corporation Ltd (“IPC” or the “Group”), it is my pleasure to present to you our annual report for the financial year ended 31 December 2023 (“FY2023”).
In 2023, the world has generally returned to normalcy after the global lifting of COVID control measures Countries have opened their borders to welcome foreigners, thereby boosting the tourism industry. The hospitality sector has experienced an aggressive uptick in business activities and performance.
Japan, where the Group has its hospitality interests in, has experienced a strong return of foreign tourists throughout the year which registered 25 million tourists in 2023, the largest number since 2019. According to Japan’s National Tourism Organization, the number of inbound tourists in 2022 was 3.8 million. Spending by visitors in 2023 increased by roughly 10% compared with 2019, before the pandemic, while spending per person increased by almost 34%. However, the annual number remains below the 32 million recorded in 2019. Inbound tourists from China, the largest group before the pandemic and the biggest spenders, also lag behind pre-COVID numbers at 2.4 million compared with 9.6 million visitors in 2019. The largest number of visitors came from South Korea (7 million) and Taiwan (4 million) in 2023. Potentially, the outlook for inbound foreign tourists into Japan is expected to resume it’s upward trajectory especially if China tourists start to return in big numbers.
China, where the Group owns and operates a hotel, Grand nest HOTEL zhuhai, with MICE activities, is facing headwinds in many aspects of the economy. The downturn of the property industry, weaknesses in global demand for China’s exports, high debt levels, and the ongoing trade war with United States and other countries, has drastically impacted the country’s producers’ value chain business. Consequently, affecting employment, and a slowdown in personal consumption, hence a tepid GDP growth rate in 2023. Although the hospitality sector has seen some improvements in the business & private travellers’ segments, it is still below the pre-COVID period.
With our business operations mainly concentrated in these two countries – Japan & China, our financial performance in FY2023 has seen improvements.
Japan
Through our convertible preference shares investment in Nest Hotel Japan Corporation (“NHJC”), IPC has exposure to the business of hotel management, operation and investment in Japan. NHJC manages a total of 17 hotels across the country under the brand names “nest”, “Bespoke” and “Tissage”.
A strong return of foreign tourists has boosted the hospitality industry in Japan. NHJC has directly benefited from the surge in demand for rooms, which has significantly improved the performance of NHJC in FY2023. The positive performance has resulted in the value of our convertible preference shares investment increased from S$0.665 million in FY2022 to S$4.494 million in FY2023 based on the valuation of NHJC at year-end 2023.
China
Over in China, IPC owns and operates the Grand nest HOTEL zhuhai, which has 217 rooms. Zhuhai is a popular venue for Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (“MICE”) tourism.
Though the country has opened its borders, it has yet to allow travel free visa to foreigners. Furthermore, it has faced headwinds in many aspects of its economy, in particular the property industry as well as a slowdown in personal consumption. However, the hospitality sector did see some improvements in the business and private travellers' segments. As a result, Grand nest HOTEL zhuhai achieved about 2.0 times in sales revenue in FY2023 vs FY2022, and GOP turned positive from negative in FY2023.
The Group recorded sales of S$3.166 million for the year ended 31 December 2023 compared to S$1.490 million for the previous corresponding financial period. The increase was mainly due to the increase in the sales revenue of Grand nest HOTEL zhuhai and properties developed for sale in Zhuhai, China. Gross profit turnaround from a loss of S$0.962 million in FY2022 to a profit of S$0.581 million in FY2023.
A spectacular performance from NHJC for FY2023 has benefited the value of our convertible preference shares investment to increase by S$3.829 million from FY2022 to FY2023, the net loss was drastically reduced from S$7.537 million to S$0.631 million from FY2022 to FY2023 respectively.
Since the opening of borders after the pandemic, we see the trend in “revenge travelling”. The key beneficiary is the hospitality sector and the Group is expected to capitalize on this positive trend.
Barring negative surprises, with a weak JPY and the V-shape recovery of foreign tourists in FY2023, we are optimistic of the performance outlook of NHJC in 2024. As for Grand nest HOTEL zhuhai, China, we are cautiously managing expectations and conscientiously managing its operating costs during the period of economic uncertainty in China.
The Group will continue to work on monetizing some of its assets in China, improve its cash position and work towards getting itself removed from the Singapore Exchange’s watch list.
For the fourth year running, our directors have again maintained a voluntary 20% reduction in their remuneration for FY2023. I would like to thank them for being understanding, as well as for their guidance and advice to the Group.
To close, I would also like to express my gratitude to all employees, shareholders and business partners. We appreciate your unwavering commitment in the midst of all the uncertainties. Let us look forward to a brighter and stronger 2024 for IPC!
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer