Hartalega 3Q profit fell 4% y-o-y to RM57.99m

by **Cals** Wed 12 Feb 2014, 03:07

Hartalega 3Q profit fell 4% y-o-y to RM57.99m
Business & Markets 2014
Written by Jeffrey Tan of theedgemalaysia.com
Tuesday, 11 February 2014 17:44

KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 11): Hartalega Holdings Bhd’s net profit fell 4% year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM57.99 million in the third quarter ended Dec 31, 2013, from RM60.62 million a year earlier, due mainly to reduction in operating profit margin .
However, its revenue rose 3% y-o-y to RM267.82 million from RM259.56 million.
The glove manufacturer declared a second interim dividend of 3.5 sen per share single tier for its financial year ending March 31, 2014.
In a statement to Bursa Malaysia, Hartalega said the reduction in operating profit margin was a result of lower average selling prices and higher staff cost partly due to increased staff.
For the nine-month period, Hartalega’s net profit rose to RM184.33 million versus RM172.63 million in the previous corresponding period, while revenue generated RM827 million from RM762 million a year ago.
Hartalega said the operating profit margin for the period was sustained mainly due to lower raw material costs and improved operational efficiency of new production lines.
It said the increase in revenue is in line with the group’s continuous expansion in production capacity and an increase in demand.
Hartalega managing director Kuan Mun Leong said that in tandem with the company’s capacity expansion, it was taking steps to invest in a strong foundation to cater for its long-term sustainable growth.
Kuan said Hartalega expects to have the first production line of the Next Generation Integrated Glove Manufacturing Complex (NGC) in operation by September this year.
He said construction of plant 1 and 2 of the NGC had started in December last year.