KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 30): Shares of Semiconductor manufacturer Unisem (M) Bhd rose in early trade Friday after its net profit rose 48% to RM40.2 million or 5.5 sen per share for its third quarter ended Sept 30, 2015 (3QFY15), from RM27.12 million or 4.02 sen per share a year earlier, mainly due to higher revenue.

At 9.15am, Unisem was up 2.17% or 5 sen to RM2.35 with 558,400 shares done.

The quarter’s revenue came in 21% higher at RM329.61 million, from RM273.27 million in 3QFY14, its filing to Bursa Malaysia showed, primarily because of consistent demand for its products and the strengthening of the US dollar against the ringgit and yuan exchange rates, compared to a year ago.

Besides the favourable foreign exchange rates, Unisem’s performance was supported by better contribution from its wafer bumping and advanced package operations, coupled with lower interest expense.

Hence, for the nine-month period (9MFY15), Unisem’s net profit doubled to RM95.12 million, from RM47.23 million in 9MFY14; while revenue rose 21% to RM908.46 million, from RM752.9 million.

Its Asian segment’s revenue for 9MFY15 increased by 35%, while its US and Europe segments improved by 12.9% and 10.1% respectively.

Going forward, the group expects its performance to remain satisfactory for the remainder of its current financial year.