Lion Industries 4Q net profit falls 62.3% to RM45.01m

KUALA LUMPUR: LION INDUSTRIES CORPORATION [] Bhd (LICB) net profit for the fourth quarter ended June 30, 2011 fell 62.3% to RM45.01 million from RM119.59 million a year earlier, due mainly to higher raw material costs.

It said on Friday, Aug 26 that revenue for the quarter rose 32.85% to RM1.48 billion from RM1.11 billion in 2010.

Earnings per share was 6.28 sen compared to 16.74 sen in 2010, while net assets per share was RM4.54.

LICB proposed a gross dividend of 3 sen per share and single tier dividend of 1 sen per share.

For the financial year ended June 30, LICB’s net profit fell 35.78% to RM232.11 million from RM361.47 million, despite a 10.66% increase in revenue to RM4.95 billion from RM4.47 billion.

Reviewing its performance, LICB attributed the increase in its revenue to higher sales of building materials.

However, the group recorded a lower profit from operations of RM95.1 million as compared to RM403.2 million a year ago mainly due to lower sales tonnage of steel products and higher raw material cost, it said.

On its prospects, LICB said the Group's steel division was expected to face increased challenges amid uncertainties brought about by the growing fear of a global slowdown.

“However, the domestic demand for steel products and building materials is expected to grow in line with the implementation of various infrastructure and CONSTRUCTION [] projects which augur well for our steel and building material operations.

“Moving forward, the group expects to record a set of satisfactory results for the next financial year,” it said.