KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 20): Leader Steel Holdings Bhd saw its net loss narrowed by 38.54% to RM1.92 million for the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2015 (3QFY15) compared to RM3.13 million last year.

In its announcement to Bursa Malaysia today, Leader Steel attributed the decrease in loss before tax to lower production cost during the quarter as a result of higher profit margin in the steel pipes segment.

The group's revenue decreased by 24.9% to RM37.98 million from RM50.57 million in last year's corresponding quarter mainly due to a 60.4% decrease in mineral trading, RM8.4 million compared to RM21.2 million in 3QFY14. It is not declaring any dividend.

For the cumulative nine-month period (9MFY15), the group's losses narrowed by 25.2% at RM2.6 million from last year's losses of RM3.48 million, while revenue shrank by 33.78% to RM121.14 million from RM182.93 million in 9MFY14.

Moving forward, the group finds the uncertainty of the global economy to be a challenging period for the industry.

"In spite of a challenging environment, the demand for minerals remains stable. Hence, the management is positive that the trading of [the] minerals segment will contribute positive results albeit depressed margin.

"On the assumption that this environment will persist, the Board is hoping to achieve an improvement in the performance of the Group for the quarter ahead. However, in view of the pricing pressure, the Group does not expect to record exceptional results," said its Bursa note.

(Note: The Edge Research’s fundamental score reflects a company’s profitability and balance sheet strength, calculated based on historical numbers. The valuation score determines if a stock is attractively valued or not, also based on historical numbers. A score of 3 suggests strong fundamentals and attractive valuations.)