Third-quarter net profit doubles on better margins

PETALING JAYA: Zhulian Corp Bhd’s net profit for the third quarter ended Aug 31, 2017 more than doubled to RM14.58 million from RM6.11 million a year ago due to better margins for some of its subsidiaries.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia, the costume and jewellery manufacturer said the improved margin was in line with the increase in revenue and lower expenses incurred, as well as an increase in share of profit compared with a year ago.

Revenue for the quarter rose 13% to RM49.78 million from RM44.01 million a year ago mainly due to an increase of export revenue to Myanmar, offset by the drop in local demand.

For the nine months ended Aug 31, 2017, net profit almost doubled to RM41.33 million from RM21.13 million a year ago while revenue rose 5% to RM146.68 million from RM139.39 million a year ago.

Zhulian declared a third interim single tier dividend of 1.5 sen per share, totalling RM6.9 million with respect to financial year ending Nov 30, 2017, to be paid on Nov 24, 2017.

Moving forward, the company expects the business environment to remain challenging due to economic uncertainties and will continue efforts to revive the domestic market while exploring untapped markets within Asean.

It said that it is cautiously optimistic of its future prospects, based on plans to explore new opportunities by venturing into other business.

“We also look forward to improving the contribution from the MLM segments especially from our Thailand and Myanmar markets in order to drive growth momentum for overall Indochina market, once we materialise our plan to enter Cambodia and Laos market,” it said.

Its share price closed unchanged at RM1.64 yesterday with a total of 49,300 shares traded, giving it a market capitalisation of RM754.40 million.