KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 13): Shares of Ge-Shen Corp Bhd jumped as high as 32 sen or 22.07% to their 32-month high of RM1.77 in the morning session, after the precision plastic parts manufacturer continued its profitable run in the second quarter.

At noon market break, the counter is still up 22 sen or 15.17% at RM1.67 — still the highest since January 2018 — to emerge as the second top gainer on Bursa Malaysia.

Some two million shares were traded in the morning session, or six times its 200-day average volume.

Ge-Shen posted a net profit of RM3.71 million or 3.38 sen per share for the second quarter ended June 30, 2021 (2QFY21), up 37.83% quarter-on-quarter from RM2.69 million or 2.45 sen.

This is despite the smaller quantum of improvement of 0.87% in quarterly revenue to RM65.63 million, from RM65.06 million. It is Ge-Shen’s fifth consecutive profitable quarter.

This was supported by operational improvements prior to the June 2021 lockdown, as well as stronger customer orders amid the reopening of Western economies and the transition for several projects to the mass-production stage, the company said on Thursday.

On a year-on-year basis, the latest results translated to Ge-Shen’s net profit in the first half ended June 30, 2021 (1HFY21) to become the best since 1HFY17.

Net profit in Ge-Shen’s 1HFY21 rose further to RM6.39 million or 5.83 sen per share, widening the gap against a net loss of RM4.43 million or 4.14 sen losses per share in 1HFY20.

Half-year revenue, meanwhile, nearly doubled to RM130.69 million, from RM67.98 million, the group's filing showed.

On prospects, Ge-Shen said its metal sheet facility is working on several new projects, whereas its plastic facilities are seeing strong demand, although both segments are still prone to Covid-19 disruptions on operations.

“In general, the management is hopeful that when the Covid-19 situation is under control, the order backlog will underpin sales while we push harder on the business development side for new projects to sustain 2022’s revenue growth,” it said.

At RM1.67 sen per share, Ge-Shen has a market capitalisation of RM183.73 million.