However, rental income derived from our investment
properties increased by S$61,000 in FY2015 compared to
the previous year. Gain on disposal of investment property
of S$54,000 and royalties of S$219,000 from licensing of cord
lining technology to StemLife and CCBC in FY2015 have
been recognised by the Group. There were no such gain and
royalties recognised in FY2014.
As a result of the foregoing, other operating income declined
by 39.3% or approximately S$500,000 in FY2015 compared
to FY2014.
With cash and cash equivalents, fixed deposits and short-
term investments of S$29.2 million as at June 30, 2015,
the Group maintained a strong balance sheet. The Group
registered a 16.7% increase in net asset value per share
from 53.50 cents as at June 30, 2014 to 62.46 cents as at
June 30, 2015.
Overall, the Group’s full-year net profit grew by 5.7% to
S$32.1 million for FY2015.
OPERATIONS REVIEW
The strong top-line growth achieved in FY2015 indicates
that we are making good progress with the expansion
of our market leadership across Asia, particularly in India,
which offers tremendous growth opportunities. Apart
from India, other Asian countries such as Indonesia, the
Philippines and Singapore continue to be key markets for
Cordlife’s strategic growth.
In Singapore, we reinforced our industry leadership position
through new service offerings and marketing efforts
to spread the word about the benefits of our services.
A demonstration of such efforts was the opening of our
first flagship store at Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital in
February 2015. Apart from availing the opportunity for us to
communicate with parents within the hospital premises, this
store also provides the opportunity for us to introduce other
healthcare-related services such as paediatric eye screening.
Since Cordlife’s entry into the Indian market, we have
been rapidly expanding our operations in the country and
extending our reach to more families. We aim to cater to
the growing demand from the burgeoning middle class
families that are increasingly aware of the need for pre-
emptive healthcare.
In the past year, we have been expanding our market
presence in India by carrying out an extensive marketing
and sales plan to generate a network effect to grow our
client base through positive word-of-mouth and new client
referrals. Television commercials were aired locally for
the first time as part of our maiden advertising campaign
in the country, which conveyed the importance of cord
blood banking to expectant parents and how our products
and services can help protect their children in future. Our
integrated marketing campaign also comprised newspaper
advertising, digital marketing and client activation activities.
Apart from increasing market share in India, the Group
intends to use advertising as a tool to establish brand
leadership in the mid to long-term to capture mindshare.
With the enlarged client base, we can further leverage on
our pool of clients to cross-sell complementary products
and services.
Over in Indonesia and the Philippines, we have been
developing our operations to cater to the growing
demand in these markets. By October 2014, we upgraded
our stem cell processing and cryopreservation facility in
the Philippines to accommodate as many as 30,000 cord
blood and cord lining units. Located in Quezon City, this
new facility is home for our laboratory as well as local
marketing operations. To give parents greater assurance
of the safety and security of their baby’s stem cells stored
with us, our facility is housed in a building, which sits
within a master-planned development, with the most
advanced flood mitigation system. The building was also
designed to withstand an earthquake of magnitude 8 on
the Richter scale.
On the marketing end, we entered into a strategic exclusive
partnership with Mommy Mundo, the largest online
network of mothers and mothers-to-be in the Philippines,
giving us access to more than 20,000 of our prime target
market. The relocation of our facility in the Philippines came
less than five years after the opening of the first facility in
the country, indicating a tremendous growth in demand
as well as the success of local marketing efforts to educate
Filipino families on stem cell banking.
In Indonesia, we have expanded our offerings with the
introduction of cord lining banking services in September
2014, thus extending the benefits of stem cell banking
to Indonesian parents seeking to improve the health and
well-being of their children. We have also succeeded in our
soft launch of Metascreen services in the same year, thus
further diversifying our services for the region to provide
more healthcare choices to our clients.
12
CORDLIFE GROUP LIMITED
| ANNUAL REPORT 2015
CEO’S
MESSAGE
