This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on August 18, 2017

KUALA LUMPUR: Technology-related counters continued to show a significant move to the upside on Bursa Malaysia yesterday, in line with the global trend.

Earnings-wise, a number of these companies, for instance Vitrox Corp Bhd, and Aemulus Bhd, have posted impressive jumps in earnings.

Vitrox, whose share price hit a record high of RM4.80 yesterday, announced a 48% jump in net profit to RM21.34 million for the second quarter ended June 30, 2017 (2QFY17) from RM14.42 million, mainly due to higher customer orders of its machine vision system and automated board inspection products.

Revenue grew 37% to RM77.62 million from RM56.64 million a year ago. Earnings per share expanded to 9.09 sen per share for 2QFY17 from 6.17 sen per share previously.

For the cumulative first half, the group’s net profit soared 33% to RM39.91 million from RM30.02 million. Cumulative revenue increased 31% to RM147.23 million from RM112.67 million a year ago.

The ACE Market-listed Aemulus was also riding high on growing demand for semiconductors. This was evidenced in its latest quarterly financial numbers.

Its net profit for the third financial quarter ended June 30, 2017 (3QFY17) jumped 411% to RM2.5 million compared with RM480,000 a year ago.

Quarterly revenue climbed 118% to RM12 million from RM5.5 million previously, thanks to growing demand from the enterprise storage and automated test equipment (ATE) segments which continuously drove its top-line performance.

The Penang-based test equipment manufacturer, whose share price has more than tripled, expects revenue from its enterprise storage division to soar threefold for the current FY17 ending Sept 30, 2017, while revenue from its ATE division is also expected to exceed the amount achieved in FY15 and FY16, according to its filing with Bursa Malaysia.

Meanwhile, Malaysian Pacific Industries Bhd (MPI) posted a net profit of RM40 million for the fourth financial quarter ended June 30, 2017 (4QFY17), up 3.42% from RM38.68 million in 4QFY16, corresponding to a higher revenue.

MPI said the increase in net profit recorded was mainly due to the higher revenue and a stronger US dollar exchange rate against the ringgit.

Quarterly revenue climbed 12.8% to RM389.13 million from RM344.82 million in 4QFY16.

For FY17, MPI recorded an annual net profit of RM177.91 million, an increase of nearly 13% from RM157.52 million in FY16.

Annual revenue climbed 5.55% to stand at RM1.54 billion compared with RM1.46 billion in FY16.

Cash-rich Notion VTec Bhd recorded a net profit of RM2.77 million for 3QFY17 compared to a net loss of RM5.5 million in the previous corresponding quarter.

However, the quarterly net profit was mainly derived from an income tax gain of RM2.27 million. Its operating income shrank to RM765,000 in 3QFY17 from RM4.23 million a year ago.

Quarterly revenue stood at RM67.78 million, up 27.58% from RM53.12 million in 3QFY16.

In a filing with Bursa yesterday, Notion VTec said the setting-up costs incurred at its Johor plant and upgrading of machineries at its Klang factory for the automotive segment weighed on its net profit.

“For this quarter, the accounting profit was affected by losses, mainly arising from Notion Thailand and Notion International, Johor, due to insufficient orders covering the higher overheads, but there are new orders from new customers in the coming quarters,” it said.

Hong Leong Investment Bank Research analyst Loui Low wrote in a note yesterday that while the FBM KLCI is mildly trending higher towards the resistance range of 1,775 to 1,780 points, technology stocks should continue outperforming the broader market with buying support re-emerged.

“It is not surprising given that global technology stocks are up, especially since we are heavily influenced by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, which was up last night (Wednesday),” Inter-Pacific Securities Sdn Bhd head of research Pong Teng Siew told The Edge Financial Daily.

Bursa’s Technology Index climbed 1.57% or 0.59 points to 38.12 points, breaching the index’s recent peak of 38 points with more gainers than decliners among the component stocks of the sub-index.

The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, which is made up of 19 US semiconductor companies, closed 1.64 points or 0.15% higher at 1098.07 points overnight.