Government subsidies/incentive bonus It is worth noting that in fiscal 2022 (year end Jan 2022), the company received subsidies from store closures due to the pandemic of $22.7m. In fiscal 2023, and specifically the first quarter, the company received $1.2m which is not going to repeat in fiscal 2024. That is, $1.2m in operating costs should be added relative to last year ceteris parabus. If the company decides not to pay out additional incentive bonuses, the company could further reduce their operating expenses by $19.9m for the year! This is an expense that the company has control over and may not repeat, especially if they begin paying dividends in the future.
Furthermore, it is interesting that the government subsidies is almost equal to the incentive bonuses with a lag of about a year.