KUALA LUMPUR (July 30): Unisem (M) Bhd's net profit surged to RM31.38 million in the second quarter ended June 30, 2015 (2QFY15) from RM10.84 million a year earlier as the semiconductor manufacturer registered higher global sales.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia today, Unisem (fundamental: 1.25; valuation: 0.6) said revenue rose to RM298.79 from RM251.58 million.

For 1HFY15, Unisem's net profit jumped to RM54.92 million from RM20.11 million a year earlier.

Revenue was up at RM578.85 million from RM479.63 million.

"Asia segment recorded the highest increase in revenue by 28.6% whilst the revenue for USA and Europe segments increased by 17.4% and 12.7%, respectively.

“The improvement in net profit for the financial year to date was due to increased gross profit margin arising from change in product mix and improved utilisation rates, lower interest expense and gain on disposal of assets amounting to RM3.331 million," Unisem said.

Unisem said it expected its FY15 performance to remain “satisfactory”.

In another filing, Unisem declared an interim tax-free dividend of three sen a share for the quarter in review.

The company said the dividend's ex-date falls on September 9 this year and payment would be made on September 29.

At 12.30pm today, Unisem shares rose six sen or 2.6% to RM2.38, giving the company a market capitalisation of RM1.7 billion. The stock saw some three million shares changing hands.

Unisem shares had gained 31% this year, surpassing the FBM KLCI's 3% decline.

(Note: The Edge Research's fundamental score reflects a company’s profitability and balance sheet strength, calculated based on historical numbers. The valuation score determines if a stock is attractively valued or not, also based on historical numbers. A score of 3 suggests strong fundamentals and attractive valuations.)