KUALA LUMPUR (June 27): Shares in Scientex Bhd rose 0.82% this morning, after the group reported that its net profit for the third quarter ended April 30, 2019 (3QFY19) rose 19.2% year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM72.88 million from RM61.14 million.

At 11.56am, Scientex gained 7 sen to RM8.63 for a market capitalisation of RM4.45 billion.

Scientex declared a first interim dividend of 10 sen per share, to be paid on July 23.

The group said the rise in its 3QFY19 net profit is due to better sales performance achieved from the manufacturing and property divisions. Revenue for the period rose 38.9% y-o-y to RM828.46 million from RM596.42 million.

For the nine months ended April 30, net profit slipped marginally to RM200.3 million against RM201.52 million in the corresponding period a year ago, on the back of a 22.7% year-on-year rise in revenue to RM2.31 billion from RM1.88 billion.