SHAH ALAM (Dec 17): The steel maker Hiap Teck Venture Bhd, which successfully turned its performance around in the financial year ended July 31, 2018 (FY18), is expecting stronger earnings in FY19, driven by its 35% stake in Eastern Steel Sdn Bhd (ESSB).

"The company's earnings for the past three years [were] dragged by ESSB. Today we had resumed the operations of ESSB, as long as it started making profit, our earnings growth in 2018 and 2019 will be very strong," its executive director Foo Kok Siew told the press after its annual general meeting here.

Foo assumed "the company earnings will be double or tripled", if the ESSB is able to break even in FY19.

However, Foo is optimistic about the turnaround plan for ESSB, stating the company is looking to turn ESSB around in FY19.

On July 16, Hiap Teck announced that its blast furnace at ESSB had resumed production finally, after a halt of nearly three years.

For its first quarter for the financial year ended Oct 31, 2018 (1QFY19), Hiap Teck recognised RM4.26 million losses from ESSB.

At 12.06pm, Hiap Teck fell 5.08% or 1.5 sen to 28 sen with 5.95 million shares done.