KUALA LUMPUR: Chipmaker Unisem (M) saw its earnings for FY17 dip 1.7% to RM159.46mil from a year ago, due to lower profit margins arising from change in product mix as well as the recognition of foreign exchange (forex) losses.
In the FY ended Dec 31, 2017, the earnings were also impacted by the weaker Q4 caused by the depreciation of US$/ringgit exchange rate and higher forex loss.
The earnings were lower compared with the RM162.29mil in FY16. Revenue was up 10.8% at RM1.465bil compared RM1.322bil. It proposed a final dividend of four sen a share.
On the outlook for FY18, its directors expected the group's performance to be satisfactory in line with the modest growth forecasted for the semiconductor industry.
Elaborating on the FY17 results, Unisem said all segments recorded increase in revenue with US segment recorded the highest improvement of 24.1% whilst Europe and Asia segments increased by 6.6% and 0.3% respectively.
Unisem said the higher revenue was mainly due to higher sales, improved average selling prices and the appreciation of US$/ringgit exchange rate. The earnings were impacted by forex losses of RM10.27mil compared with forex gains of RM13.93mil in FY16.
In the fourth quarter of FY17, its earnings fell 37.6% to RM32.02mil from RM51.33mil a year ago. Its revenue was down 1.3% to RM357.41mil from RM362.13mil. Earnings per share were 4.36 sen compared with seven sen a year ago.
Unisem's Q4 results were also weaker compared with the third quarter, down 20.8% from RM40.44mil mainly due to to the depreciation of the US$/ringgit exchange rate and higher forex loss.
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