“The group continues its focus on managing cost increases by productivity drives and improving throughputs,” KESM said.
PETALING JAYA: KESM Industries Bhd
expects to benefit from the uplifting of Covid-19 restrictions in China, although the group pointed out that inflation and energy cost spikes are affecting its production cost efficiencies.
“The group continues its focus on managing cost increases by productivity drives and improving throughputs,” it said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia yesterday.
“Notably, the non-memory market is nevertheless expected to grow, driven partly by the strong demand from the automotive market,” added KESM.
Following capital expenditure being expended, the group expects increases in services for automotive devices as test equipment are progressively certified for production.
KESM is the largest independent burn-in and test services provider in Malaysia, serving the world’s leading semiconductor manufacturers.
KESM noted worldwide semiconductor revenue which was estimated at US$601.7bil (RM2.7 trillion) in 2022, is forecast to decline marginally by 1% to US$596bil (RM2.67 trillion) this year.
“This is on the back of a dampened economic growth, given that reduced spending by consumers and lower production by enterprises are expected due to inventory corrections,” it said.
For the second quarter ended Jan 31, 2023 (2Q), KESM’s net loss narrowed to RM720,000 (from RM1mil a year earlier), while revenue was 13% year-on-year (y-o-y) lower at RM56mil.
For 2Q, loss per share was 1.67 sen versus a loss per share of 2.35 sen a year earlier.
For the first half of financial year 2023 (1H23), KESM posted a net loss of RM2.26mil versus a RM6.5mil net profit a year earlier, while revenue was 18% y-o-y lower to RM108.75mil.
For 1H23, loss per share was 5.25 sen versus an earnings per share of 15.13 sen a year earlier. The group said the lower revenue was largely due to reduced volumes for burn-in and testing services, and also the EMS segment which was scaled down.
