Poh Huat's 4Q net profit up 4% to RM11.05 million

by **Cals** Wed 24 Dec 2014, 19:30

Poh Huat's 4Q net profit up 4% to RM11.05 million

KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 24): Poh Huat Resources Holdings Bhd ([You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] Financial Dashboard)’s net profit rose 4.4% to RM11.05 million, or 10.35 sen per share, for the fourth quarter ended Oct 31 (4QFY14) against RM10.58 million, or 9.89 sen a share, in the previous corresponding period.
The furniture maker attributed the improvement to better Malaysian operations and lower administration cost.
Quarterly revenue rose 6.7% to RM108.12 million from RM101.33 million, underpinned by better earnings from Malaysian and Vietnamese operations which showed an increase of RM3.38 million and RM3.72 million respectively.
For the full year, the group's net profit surged 42% to RM23.8 million, or 22.3 sen per share, compared with RM16.76 million, or 15.67 sen per share in FY13. Revenue expanded to RM377.17 million, 5.3% higher than in the last financial year.
In a filing with Bursa Malaysia, Poh Huat said the better net profit was driven by consistent operational improvements in the Malaysian operations which registered a turnaround profit of RM7.09 million compared to a loss of RM1.38 million in the previous year.
"However, Vietnamese operation profit was RM6.13 million lower to RM22.30 million due to higher labour cost of 13.4% in the current financial year against 9.5% in the previous financial year," the group told Bursa.
On prospect, Poh Huat said the global economic recovery remained fragile and uneven with the International Monetary Fund cutting its forecast for global growth in 2015.
"The disinflationary pressure from the recent slump in oil prices and the deteriorating economic conditions both in Europe and Russia have resulted in a generally more cautious global economic outlook," it added.
"The wellbeing of Europe's major trading partners especially China, Brazil and Japan will most likely to be affected by adverse economic and social developments within the region," it said.
On the bright side, Poh Huat said US economy continued with its path to recovery with successive improvements in its key economic indicators including manufacturing outputs, employment and corporate earnings.
"These improvements coupled with falling oil and commodity prices are likely translate to more disposal income and increased in spending amongst US consumers," it added.
"Given the positive factors in the US together with the strengthening of the US dollar against the ringgit, the group is optimistic of its prospects for the next financial year," Poh Huat said.
According totheedgemarkets.com, Poh Huat scored a 2.1 fundamental rating, which measures the strength of the company's balance sheet, with 3 suggesting that it is profitable and has strong balance sheet.
Poh Huat share price closed two sen or 1.56% up to RM1.30 with 101,200 shares done, giving it a market capitalisation of RM134.47 million.