This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on February 23, 2018

KUALA LUMPUR: MBM Resources Bhd suffered its first loss in the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2017 (4QFY17), posting a net loss of RM191.74 million compared to a net profit of RM7.57 million a year ago due to impairment charges.

This resulted in a loss per share of 49.05 sen in 4QFY17 compared to earnings per share of 1.94 sen in 4QFY16.

Quarterly revenue, however, rose by a marginal 1.5% to RM443.77 million from RM437.23 million in 4QFY16.

Nevertheless, MBM declares a second interim dividend of 1.5 sen per share for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2017 (FY17), where the dividend entitlement and payment date will be announced in due course.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia yesterday, MBM said during the quarter under review, it embarked on a series of initiatives to strengthen its financial position and reviewed the viability and expected returns on various investments within the group.

“The group impaired RM176.6 million of goodwill and joint venture investment in its subsidiary Hirotako Holdings Bhd (HHB) based on the financial forecasts of HHB Group. The group also impaired, among others, RM61.7 million of property, plant and equipment in its alloy wheel plant.

“These impairment adjustments totalled RM242.5 million for 4QFY17,” it added.

Excluding the impairment charges, MBM said it would have posted a pre-tax profit (PBT) of RM39.9 million, 3.6% lower than the adjusted PBT of RM41.4 million in 4QFY16 due to lower contribution from the associates.

Meanwhile, the poor quarterly performance resulted in the group posting its first net loss of RM148.83 million for the full FY17 compared to a net profit of RM66.07 million the previous year. Revenue, however, increased 3.7% to RM1.73 billion from RM1.67 billion in FY16.

On prospects, MBM said the management is focused on improving the profitability of the group’s core businesses amid a challenging economic environment.

“The proactive actions taken thus far to strengthen the group’s financial position and investments are expected to place it in a better position to weather the challenges in the coming year,” it added.