KUALA LUMPUR (June 19): Boustead Holdings Bhd’s net loss widened to RM73.1 million for the first quarter ended March 31, 2020 (1QFY20) compared with RM22.4 million a year earlier. There were weaker performances across all its divisions except pharmaceutical and plantation.
Quarterly revenue dropped 9.8% to RM2.26 billion from RM2.51 billion previously.
The pharmaceutical division benefited from the absence of amortisation of concession rights, which was fully recognised in 4QFY19, while the plantation business was lifted by better palm product prices, the group said in its results filing with Bursa Malaysia today.
Other divisions in the Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera’s investment arm are heavy industries, trading, finance and investment, and property and industrial — all of which recorded losses during the period under review.
According to Boustead, the property and industrial and trading, finance and investment divisions bore the brunt of the Government’s Movement Control Order which was enforced on March 18, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Meanwhile, the heavy industries division recorded a deficit of RM37 million, largely attributable to a loss incurred by Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd, on higher foreign exchange loss and finance cost.
“In addition, no margin was recorded for the Littoral Combat Ship project due to cost overrun in FY2019,” it said.
Boustead chairman Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin said: “As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent MCO, business activity essentially came to a halt in many industries. The Boustead group was not spared the brunt of this, as most of our divisions were affected, impacting earnings for the first quarter.
“While this challenging situation is set to persist for 2020, we are positive that the group-wide transformation exercise we are currently undergoing will enable us to weather through.
“With this plan underway, we aim to strengthen the group’s operations and drive performance to see brighter prospects over the next three years,” he added.