This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on April 20, 2016.

KUALA LUMPUR: Hong Leong Industries Bhd (HLIB) saw its net profit for the third quarter ended March 31, 2016 (3QFY16) rose 27.4% year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM58.65 million, from RM46.03 million, due to higher contributions from an associate company.

Revenue for the period, meanwhile, was up a marginal 0.7% y-o-y to RM555.03 million, from RM551.05 million previously.

The company declared a second interim dividend of 19 sen per share and a special interim single-tier dividend of 10 sen per share for FY16, to be paid on May 24, 2016, bringing its total payout for the year-to-date period to 42 sen per share, compared with 29 sen per share in the same period last year.

For the first nine months of FY16 (9MFY16), HLIB recorded a 36.9% y-o-y rise in net profit to RM177.73 million, from RM129.82 million.

Revenue, however, was largely flat at RM1.62 billion in 9MFY16, compared with RM1.61 billion in 9MFY15.

The group said it recorded an increase of 21.2% in profit before tax (PBT) of RM82.8 million in 3QFY16, compared with RM68.3 million in 3QFY15, mainly attributable to higher profit contributions from an associate company.

For 9MFY16, the group’s PBT grew 6.7% to RM245.8 million, from RM230.4 million a year ago.

On prospects, HLIB said it expects its performance for both the consumer products and industrial products segments to be satisfactory in FY16.