KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 27): V.S. Industry Bhd's net profit more than tripled to RM36.81 million in the fourth financial quarter ended July 31, 2017 (4QFY17), from RM10.94 million a year ago, on higher sales orders from existing key customers.

Earnings per share rose to 3.08 sen in 4QFY17, from 0.94 sen in 4QFY16. 

Quarterly revenue jumped 77.4% to RM983.39 million, from RM554.2 million a year ago.

The group also declared a fourth interim dividend of one sen per share for FY17, payable on Oct 27. It also proposed a final dividend of another one sen, bringing total dividend for the year to 5.9 sen, compared with 4.7 sen in FY16.

For the full year FY17, it posted another year of record net profit and revenue.

Net profit rose 32.6% to RM156.32 million in FY17, from RM117.93 million the previous year, while revenue grew 50.8% to RM3.28 billion, from RM2.18 billion in FY16.

In a statement today, V.S. Industry managing director Datuk S.Y. Gan said net profit for FY17 included impairment losses of RM4 million on an investment, as well as RM12 million on property. The latter was mainly due to the strengthening of the U.S. dollar against the rupiah since its last valuation date in 2013.

"In the absence of these operational items, FY17 net profit would have been RM169.5 million against the reported RM156.3 million," Gan added.

V.S. Industry also said all three geographical markets reported healthy year-on-year revenue growth in FY17, with Malaysia leading the line with a 54% growth, followed by Indonesia (53.2%) and China (42.1%).

Going forward, V.S. Industry said the trend of rising orders is expected to sustain, going into the next financial year.

“Looking ahead, we will not rest on our laurels, as the group is still in expansion mode and we aim to maintain the uptrend in our financial performance," Gan added.

"We are adding more production space by constructing a new factory cum warehouse to cater for the expected increase in orders from both our existing and new customers. To remain at the forefront of competition, we also continue to invest in automation and manufacturing technology, especially as we progress towards the Industry 4.0 evolution.

"Barring any unforeseen circumstances and judging from our current and prospective orders, we are optimistic that VS would record better performance in FY18,” he added.

Shares of V.S. Industry hit its all-time high of RM2.67 on Monday, but has since pared off some gains. The counter closed 3.07% or 8 sen lower at RM2.53 today, giving it a market capitalisation of RM3.07 billion.