Elk-desa to ride on bullish consumer sentiment

PETALING JAYA: Elk-desa Resources Bhd is

expected to charter strong quarters ahead on the back of sustained demand for used-car hire purchase financing and bullish consumer sentiment in the furniture industry.

TA Research said the investment holding company posted strong results for the first half of 2022 (1H22) where net profit surged to Rm29.1mil from Rm9.7mil in the same period lastyear.

This was underpinned by higher revenue growth and writeback in impairment allowance.

“Elk-desa’s results exceeded our expectations, with net profit accounting for 82% of our full-year forecast,” said TA Research in a report yesterday.

Revenue for 1H22 saw a 37% jump year-onyear (y-o-y) with higher contributions from hire purchase and furniture segments. The furniture segment’s revenue went up to Rm26.4mil from Rm13.2mil last year.

“To recap, 1H22 was adversely impacted by movement restrictions. Revenue from the hire purchase segment grew by 17.1% y-o-y. Year-to-date, hire purchase receivables widened by some 11% to Rm521mil as at Sept 30, 2022,” said TA Research.

However, Elk-desa’s margins outlook are dampened by rising operating expenses y-o-y brought on by higher staff costs and overall operating costs as the hire purchase portfolio increased.

Nevertheless, the group managed to post healthy pre-tax figures at Rm38.6mil in the first six months of the financial year 2022 (FY22), compared with Rm13.2mil in 1H22, thanks to a net writeback in impairment allowance amounting to Rm3.3mil.

“Credit loss charge decreased from 1.01% to 0.32%. Management noted that this is due to a significant decrease in the non-performing accounts during the quarter, which was underpinned by a recovery in activities and an improvement in repayment trend,” said the research house.

Moreover, the group’s net impaired loans ratio improved from 1.83% as at June 30, 2022 to 1.62% as at Sept 30, 2022.

In the first quarter of financial year 2023, Elk-desa’s gearing had risen slightly to 0.43 times versus 0.33 times in the previous corresponding period.

This was due to the group’s bank borrowings which had increased by 37%, attributed to the higher drawdown of block discounting facilities to support the increase in hire purchase receivables, according to the research house.

Taking into account the group’s results which exceeded expectations, the research house raised Elk-desa’s net profit forecast for FY23, FY24 and FY25 to Rm43.1mil, Rm44.9mil and Rm45.6mil respectively. It also reiterated a “buy” call for Elk-desa with a target price of RM1.66.

Nonetheless, TA Research cautioned investors against risks such as high living costs that were attributable to rising inflationary pressures and interest rates, which could affect borrowers’ disposable incomes and ability to repay.