KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 15): Shares of fashion and apparel group Padini Holdings Bhd, which has picked up steadily since April, hit its new all-time high of RM4.12 today.

The counter opened one sen higher from yesterday’s close of RM4.01. It hit its intra-day high of RM4.17 at 11.05am, before paring some of its gains to stay up 11 sen or 2.74%, with 709,800 shares traded.

Shares of Padini have traded over the RM3.06-range since April 19 this year, and have been steadily climbing upwards since.

The only other time it breached RM3 before this year was on Sept 19, 2016, when it closed at RM3.06 apiece on news of new store expansions at the time. Its uptick was further enticed by 64.7% net profit growth in the second quarter ended Dec 31, 2016 (2QFY17) to RM54.47 million, from RM33.07 million in 2QFY16, despite weak consumer purchasing power.

For its nine-month cumulative period ended March 31, 2017 (9MFY17), Padini reported a 17.9% increase in net profit to RM117.91 million, while revenue grew 16.6% to RM1.11 billion, from RM952.32 million in 9MFY16.

On Aug 8, it completed the registration of a unit in Cambodia, marking its maiden foray in the business of trading of apparels, shoes and accessories there. However, almost all of its income is still generated locally — for FY16, Padini’s domestic operations accounted for about 97% or RM1.26 billion of the group’s revenue.

As at its last traded share price of RM4.12, the counter has gained 62.27% year-to-date, with a market capitalisation of RM2.68 billion.