Stock Downgraded: OSIM to sell by Citigroup!

Citigroup has cut its rating on OSIM International to "sell" from "buy" after the company announced weaker first quarter earnings, weighed down by higher financing costs and the poor performance of its unit Brookstone. OSIM International Ltd said yesterday its first-quarter net profit plunged to 430,000 sgd from 8.12 mln last year. It said a combination of higher financing costs and lower revenue from Brookstone resulted in a net loss from associates and joint ventures of 13.9 mln sgd in the three months to March. However, excluding its share of net losses from associates and joint ventures, OSIM said net earnings 100 pct to 14.4 mln in the first quarter. "The first quarter results showed strong core business growth but a worse than expected performance from Brookstone. We downgrade to sell," Citigroup said in a client note. At 2.05 pm, OSIM was down 0.30 sgd or 14 pct at 1.86 on volume of 3.485 mln shares.