This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on August 27, 2019

KUALA LUMPUR: AEON Co (M) Bhd doubled its net profit to RM19.45 million for the second financial quarter ended June 30, 2019, from RM9.79 million a year earlier, due to the absence of impairment losses at an associate, which had impacted its results in the previous year’s corresponding quarter.

Its quarterly revenue grew 3% to RM1.1 billion from RM1.06 billion a year earlier.

The retail business segment achieved a 3% year-on-year increase in revenue to RM924.5 million, mainly due to contributions from newly renovated stores and specialty shops, as well as a new store which was opened in January 2019.

For the first half of its financial year, cumulative net profit stood at RM52.09 million, a 38% jump from RM37.73 million in the corresponding period a year earlier, while revenue increased 6% to RM2.31 billion from RM2.18 billion.

While the Malaysian economy saw better-than-expected growth in the second quarter, the group expects conditions to soften in the second half of the year due to both internal and external factors, including global trade disputes.

“As such, the board expects the performance for the current year to remain challenging,” it said.