KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 20): Notion VTec Bhd recorded an almost six-fold increase in net profit for its third financial quarter ended June 30, 2015 (3QFY15) to RM7.28 million, or 2.71 per share, from RM1.27 million, or 0.47 sen per share a year ago.

Its stellar performance was attributed to an extraordinary gain of RM8.9 million arising from the sale of a factory building and land, the group said in its filing to the exchange today.

Notion VTec, which manufactures high volume precision components and tools for hard disk drive and single lens reflex (SLR) camera industries, reported a 19% increase in revenue to RM62.09 million in 3QFY15, from RM52.19 million a year ago, due to higher revenue from camera parts.

For the nine months ended June 30, 2015 (9MFY15), Notion VTec reported a net loss of RM2.51 million or 0.94 sen per share. However, the quarterly loss was much narrower compared with RM16.12 million, or 6.01 sen per share, a year ago due to its divestment gain coupled with a higher average selling price arising from the continued strength of the US dollar against the ringgit in the financial period under review.

The group also recorded a nearly 28% increase in revenue to RM184.28 million in 9MFY15, from RM144.1 million in the same period last year.

On its prospects, Notion VTec said it will simply focus on the current business segments and invest accordingly to the market demand and growth.

“As for the smartphone business which was a diversification exercise, we have decided that is too tough for a new brand to be established especially with the high inventory by HTC and even Samsung.

“We will terminate the online model and register a small investment loss of RM 500,000,” said Notion VTec in its announcement.

To recap, Notion VTec had earlier this year announced plans to launch its own smartphone band “Trendi” to create a new revenue stream for the group.

Notion VTec's (fundamental: 1.15; valuation: 0.9) shares closed up 8.64% today to 44 sen, with a market capitalisation of RM118.04 million.

(Note: The Edge Research’s fundamental score reflects a company’s profitability and balance sheet strength, calculated based on historical numbers. The valuation score determines if a stock is attractively valued or not, also based on historical numbers. A score of 3 suggests strong fundamentals and attractive valuations.)