KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 27): Scientex Bhd shares rose 1.13% in early trade Friday after its net profit for its fourth quarter (4Q) ended July 31, 2019 jumped 61% to RM133.4 million from RM82.99 million last year, on improved sales performance achieved from both the manufacturing and property divisions. Revenue rose to RM938.77 million from RM720.72 million.

At 9.10am, Scientex rose 10 sen to RM8.99 for a market capitalisation of RM4.63 billion.

Yesterday, Scientex said it will pay a final dividend of 10 sen per share on Jan 10, 2020.

For FY19, Scientex's net profit rose 17.3% to RM333.7 million from RM284.51 million a year ago, as revenue rose 24.8% in revenue to RM3.25 billion from RM2.6 billion.

Meanwhile, Affin Hwang Capital Research maintained its “Buy” rating on Scientex Bhd at RM8.89 with a higher target price of RM10.50 (from RM9.90) and said Scientex reported a surprisingly strong set of results: FY19 core net profit expanded by 24% to RM353 million on better performance from both its property and manufacturing segments.

In a note today, the research house said that overall, Scientex’s FY19 results were ahead of street and house expectations.

“We believe the increased plant utilisation rates and resilient demand for affordable housing will boost FY20-22E earnings.

“In view of the better-than-expected results, we raise our FY20-21E core EPS by 7-10%.

“We revise our target price higher to RM10.50 (from RM9.90) based on our SOTP valuation. Reaffirm Buy,” it said.