KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 17): Swift Haulage Bhd, which will be making its debut on Bursa Malaysia's Main Market on Dec 21, made a net profit of RM12.12 million for the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2021 (3QFY21) on a revenue of RM139.25 million.

In the first public announcement of its quarterly earnings, the integrated logistics service provider said in a bourse filing that this translated into earnings per share (EPS) of 9.92 sen. No comparative figures were available as it's the first interim financial report released by the group in relation to its earnings, in compliance with the listing requirements.

For the cumulative nine months ended Sept 30, 2021 (9MFY21), the group achieved a net profit of RM35.4 million on a revenue of RM430.86 million. EPS came in at 35.85 sen.

Swift Haulage said its revenue for 9MFY21 was mainly contributed by its container haulage segment (RM203.2 million) and its land transportation segment (RM128 million), which made up 77% of total revenue.

Of the balance revenue, the warehousing and container depot segment contributed RM55.6 million, while the freight forwarding segment made RM43.6 million.

The group said the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent movement restrictions imposed by the government had significantly impacted many businesses, including its customers. "In view of the said factors, our group encountered lower business activity in most business segments, namely container haulage, land transportation and freight forwarding," it added.

In a statement, the group further said that while its businesses were deemed "essential services", its customers who were not had to halt operations. In addition, those deemed "essential services" could only operate at 60% capacity, which had an impact on the group's 3QFY21 financial performance.

Nevertheless, it said it managed to achieve a commendable set of results for 3QFY21 and 9MFY21, which are a testament to the resilience and robustness of its business model. "Our 9MFY21 PATAMI (profit after tax and minority interest) performance was approximately 85% of our full FY20 performance," it said.

That, and with the nation having entered the fourth phase of the National Recovery Plan, put the group in a strong position to surpass its FY20 performance and deliver growth in a challenging environment, said Swift Haulage group chief executive officer Loo Yong Hui.

Swift Haulage's initial public offering (IPO), which involved a public issue of 157,142,900 new shares and an offer for sale of 177,000,000 existing shares including the overallotment option, raised RM161.9 million, making it one of the largest IPOs of 2021.

The group previously said its IPO attracted nine cornerstone investors, namely AIA Bhd, AmFunds Management Bhd, AmIslamic Funds Management Sdn Bhd, Areca Capital Sdn Bhd as the fund manager of Areca Dynamic Growth Fund 10, Kenanga Investors Bhd, HSBC Global Asset Management (Hong Kong) Ltd, Nikko Asset Management Asia Ltd, UOB Asset Management (Malaysia) Bhd and Zurich Life Insurance Malaysia Bhd.

MIDF Amanah Investment Bank Bhd was the principal adviser, joint lead bookrunner, joint bookrunner, managing underwriter and joint underwriter for the IPO.