This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on January 6, 2016.

KUALA LUMPUR: VS Industry Bhd, which saw its shareholders approving a 1.2 sen single-tier final dividend yesterday in respect of the financial year ended July 31, 2015 (FY15), is upbeat about its prospects for FY16 as it expects higher export orders.

For the first quarter ended Oct 31, 2015, VS Industry saw net profit surge 70.8% to RM60.2 million, from RM35.2 million previously, as export orders picked up, in addition to foreign-exchange gains.

“We are currently receiving highly encouraging feedback from our key customers on potentially larger order flows to commence in the near term. This is in line with positive sales expectations on their part, as consumer sentiment in the US market continues to strengthen,” said VS Industry group managing director Datuk Gan Sem Yam in a statement after the conclusion of the group’s annual general meeting (AGM) yesterday.

Therefore, he noted that VS Industry is upbeat about prospects for the rest of 2016, which would see a year of “sturdy” financial performance and “satisfactory” shareholder returns.

Gan also said VS Industry will continue to increase its research and development capabilities, as well as joint collaboration for new product innovations to create more value for customers.

“As a key enabler to our customers’ supply chain, these efforts would enable them to achieve accelerated product development and optimised development cost, at the same time, benefiting us in the longer run,” he said.

Meanwhile, Bernama reported that after the AGM in Kulai, Johor, VS Industry executive director Ng Yong Kang revealed the company was in talks with new clients in the United States and some major Europe countries to export niche products.

“The new potential clients are involved in high-technology end-products and we hope to close the deals by July this year,” he said.

In the AGM, its shareholders approved of the final dividend, which will be payable on Jan 29.

Together with earlier-paid interim dividends of 3.6 sen per share, total dividends declared for FY15 amounted to 4.8 sen or RM53.9 million, representing 40.6% of the group’s FY15 net profit.

The group is engaged in full-service contract manufacturing and product assembly, as well as printed circuit board assembly for leading international consumer electronic brands.

VS Industry closed one sen or 0.64% lower at RM1.56 yesterday, with a market capitalisation of RM1.82 billion.