KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 8): Unisem (M) Bhd said its plants in Ipoh have been ordered to shut down for seven days from Sept 8 to 15 by the Ministry of Health.

The semiconductor assembly and test services provider did not mention the reason for the temporary stoppage of its Ipoh plants.  

In a bourse filing today, Unisem said the loss in production arising from the closure is estimated to be approximately 2% of the group’s total annual production.

“We anticipate that the sales and production at our Ipoh plants will continue to be adversely impacted in the coming months due to headcount limitation until such time the pandemic subsides significantly,” it noted.

Unisem said: “The company has been trying to procure vaccination for its employees at our plants in Ipoh, Perak since June 2021 but to no avail. Through a private initiative, a mass vaccination programme was conducted on-site on Sept 1 to Sept 3, 2021 when most of our employees, customers’ resident engineers, and our contractors that provide transportation, security, and cleaning services at the plant received the first dose of vaccination.”

“The safety and well-being of our employees and local community are always our utmost priority. We will continue to maintain and adhere to the highest and most stringent Covid-19 preventive SOPs to minimise the spread of Covid-19,” it added

For the first half ended June 30, 2021 (1HFY21), Unisem's net profit more than tripled to RM100.05 million or 12.53 sen per share from RM31.12 million or 4.28 sen per share for 1HFY20. Cumulative revenue rose 37.32% to RM776.17 million from RM565.24 million.

Unisem fell three sen or 0.35% to RM8.60 at noon break today, for a market capitalisation of RM6.94 billion. Year to date, the stock has rallied 36% from RM6.34 on Jan 4, 2021.