Avarga Limited posted a net profit of S$16.5 million for the six months ended 31 Dec 2025, up 38 per cent year-on-year, helped by a S$16.1 million gain from selling property linked to its discontinued Malaysian paper mill.

Revenue from continuing operations slipped 5 per cent to S$736.6 million. Basic earnings per share from continuing operations fell to 1.25 Singapore cents, but overall EPS, buoyed by the discontinued paper unit, came in at 17.25 cents. The group paid an interim, tax-exempt dividend of S$1.20 per consolidated share in August 2025; no final payout was declared as the company said it has no distributable reserves.

For the full year, revenue declined 4 per cent to S$1.52 billion, while net profit dropped 46 per cent to S$19.8 million. A one-off S$18.6 million Canadian withholding-tax charge on repatriated dividends and a S$19.1 million impairment of goodwill and intangibles at Taiga’s US subsidiary weighed on the bottom line.

Segmentally, the building-products arm, Taiga, remained the sole active business. Second-half pre-tax profit from this division fell to S$5.8 million from S$29.4 million a year earlier as softer lumber prices and lower volumes pulled revenue down. Pre-tax losses in the “Others” segment narrowed to S$1.1 million (2H2024: S$2.0 million). Discontinued operations – chiefly the shuttered paper mill – swung to a post-tax profit of S$16.2 million for the year, reversing a S$5.7 million loss in 2024 on the back of asset-sale gains.

Operating cash flow for 2025 eased to S$35.3 million (2024: S$48.1 million), while free cash benefited from S$30.9 million of asset-disposal proceeds. The S$109.0 million interim dividend and a S$43.3 million dividend paid by a subsidiary to minority shareholders drove a S$115.2 million net cash outflow, leaving year-end cash at S$82.1 million (2024: S$200.6 million). Net assets stood at S$331.1 million after the group’s share consolidation and dividend distribution.

Looking ahead, management noted that Taiga’s performance is tied to North American housing activity, which is expected to moderate. Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation projects national housing starts to ease to 247,000 units in 2026, while the US National Association of Home Builders forecasts US starts at 1.33 million units, down marginally from 2025. Avarga will continue to streamline operations around building-products distribution following the completion of its exit from paper manufacturing and the earlier sale of its power-plant business.