It recovered from a loss of $720,000 a year ago.

Hoe Leong Corporation Ltd. has reported a profit attributable to owners of $862,000 in the first half (H1) of year, reversing last year's $720,000 loss.

In a bourse filing, the company said its revenue increased 10.5% to $20.64m in H1 driven by the increased sales in markets, mainly the US and Australia. Meanwhile, cost of sales decreased 4.7% to $15.69m, leading to a surge in gross profit, which was up to $4.96m from $2.21 a year earlier.

"The decrease in cost of sales and resultant increment in GP [gross profit] margin was mainly due to lower proportion of old, slow-moving inventories sold during H1 2024 compared to H1 2023," the company said.

Hoe Leong's other income also increased to $582,000 in H1 from $125,000 last year. The company attributed this to the foreign currency exchange gain of $444,000 recorded during the period.

"The foreign exchange gain was mainly resulting from the fluctuation in United States Dollar," it noted.