KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 29): Mi Technovation Bhd's net profit rose 53.82% to RM18.96 million for the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2021 (3QFY21) from RM12.32 million a year earlier, as the Penang-based semiconductor equipment solutions provider recorded higher revenue.

Its revenue for the quarter jumped 77.31% to RM113.97 million from RM64.28 million, its bourse filing on Friday showed.

With the improved year-on-year profit, it declared a first interim dividend of three sen per share, payable on Nov 30.

However, both its profitability and revenue were down on a quarter-to-quarter basis. Its net profit fell 27.39% from RM26.11 million in the immediate preceding quarter of 2QFY21, while revenue eased 2.83% from RM117.29 million. It should be noted that the group's 2QFY21 financial performance was a record high for the group.

In its filing, Mi Technovation blamed the q-o-q drop in profitability to higher fixed costs arising from the group's expansions in Taiwan, Korea and China, and lower sales revenue generated by its semiconductor equipment business unit (SEBU) due to the capex spending cycle and the purchasing timing of its customers, and a less favourable product mix.

For the nine months ended Sept 30, 2021 (9MFY21), net profit expanded 19.06% to RM48.58 million from RM40.80 million in 9MFY20, as cumulative revenue jumped 76.81% to RM285.44 million from RM161.44 million.

On prospects, Mi Technovation said its board of directors was optimistic about the group's prospects and confident in meeting the group’s top line target for FY21, as it noted the structural increase in underlying semiconductor demand that is underpinned by a new wave of transformative technologies including 5G, artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), electric vehicle (EV), cloud computing and smart city.

“The group’s business model embedding both semiconductor manufacturing equipment and semiconductor material business segments within the semiconductor value chain has seen good pairing results between the two business units.

“We have been unfalteringly focusing on building our technology leadership through internal R&D (research and development) efforts and collaboration with customers to deliver bold new solutions with leading-edge and specialty technologies that offer unique value to customers,” it added.  

Shares in Mi Technovation closed up three sen or 0.79% to RM3.84, bringing it a market capitalisation of RM3.46 billion.