Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on November 2, 2018

KUALA LUMPUR: Supermax Corp Bhd’s net profit rose 28.8% to RM35.94 million for the first quarter ended Sept 30, 2018, from RM27.9 million a year ago, on higher sales from additional production output and improved operational efficiency.

The glove maker also attributed the higher profit to a gain of RM6.5 million from an insurance claim.

Earnings per share increased to 5.48 sen from 4.19 sen, the group said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia.

Quarterly revenue, meanwhile, climbed 17.6% to RM367.05 million, from RM312.02 million a year ago, due to capacity expansion from the group’s two newest plants and increase in global sales of its natural rubber and nitrile gloves.

In a separate media statement, Supermax said through its capacity expansion carried out since last year, an additional installed capacity of 5.6 billion pieces of gloves was added since two of its newest plants became fully operational in the October to December period in 2017.

This brought the group’s total installed capacity level to 23.5 billion pieces of gloves per annum.

On prospects, Supermax said the global market for disposable gloves remains vibrant for both the natural rubber and nitrile variants, driven by rising healthcare awareness, healthcare reforms mandating its use in the medical and other sectors, and rising consumption by non-traditional users such as the beauty sector and even household users.

“These positive factors continue to augur well for the company and the industry as a whole,” the group said.

It added that it is now preparing for its next stage of expansion — increasing its land bank for the purpose of capacity expansion.

“The group has acquired a piece of land behind its existing cluster of plants in Meru, Klang,” Supermax said, adding that the group had started to build its 12th plant on the plot of land and it expected its production capacity to expand once the first block is completed in the third quarter of 2019.

As for the contact lens division, the group said it continues to make progress in developing the business.

“Going forward, the group will continue to work on obtaining the necessary product licences and approvals, expanding its product range and increasing market penetration for its products globally,” Supermax said.

Supermax’s share price rose five sen or 1.57% to close at RM3.24 yesterday, valuing the group at RM2.2 billion.

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