Scientex profit up on manufacturing, property ops

PETALING JAYA: Scientex Bhd’s net profit for its second quarter ended Jan 31, 2017 increased to RM65.19mil from RM64.62mil in the previous corresponding period due to higher contributions from its manufacturing and property divisions.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia yesterday, the packaging manufacturer and property developer said revenue contributions from the industrial and consumer packaging segments under its manufacturing divisions remained stable for the current financial quarter.

The company added that the increase in revenue from its property division was mainly due to stable sales and steady construction progress in its developments. Revenue in the second quarter rose to RM586.25mil from RM545.43mil a year earlier.

For the six-months period ended Jan 31, Scientex’s net profit dropped to RM117.25mil from RM125.48mil in the previous corresponding period while revenue grew to RM1.12bil from RM1.10bil a year earlier.

In a separate statement, the company said it had completed its expansions in biaxially-oriented polypropylene (BOPP) film manufacturing and setup of its new cast-polypropylene (CPP) film plant.

Scientex managing director Lim Peng Jin said the company’s new BOPP and CPP film manufacturing plants were seeing encouraging progress with growing sales to the local and export markets.

“We are also on track to complete the expansions of our polyethylene (PE) film manufacturing plants in the second half of 2017.

“Our PE film manufacturing capacity has increased to 72,000 tonnes per annum from 60,000 tonnes, and would reach a total of 84,000 tonnes upon completion.

“This provides us the additional production capacity to sustain long-term growth,” he said. Lim also said Scientex recently extended its footprint to northern Malaysia with the launch of two new projects in Ipoh, which saw encouraging sales and would strengthen its prospects going forward.

Going forward, he said the company would strive to increase sales of flexible packaging across its manufacturing business through larger orders from existing customers and new ones.

“Coupled with our exposure to the affordable properties segment which is anticipated to be resilient, we are confident of prospects for the rest of 2017,” said Lim.