Pos Malaysia falls to Sept 2016 low

Net profit for the quarter rose to RM29mil from RM9.9mil a year ago as turnover increased to RM653mil.

KUALA LUMPUR: Shares of Pos Malaysia fell to a mid-September 2016 low of RM3.46 at midday on Wednesday as concerns about its courier business continued to weigh.

At midday, its shares had fallen 22 sen to RM3.47. There were 1.44 million  shares done at prices ranging from RM3.46 to RM3.70.

During the morning session, a total of RM172.21mil was erased from its market capitalisation, reducing it to RM2.71bil.

Its record high was on RM5.66 on Nov 6, 2017. Since then, its  share price has fallen by RM2.20.

At the current price of RM3.47, it is trading at price-to-earnings of 35.41 times and forward  P/E of 22.83 times. 

Kenanga Investment Bank has a market perform and target price of RM5 while RHB Research has a Buy with a TP of RM4.80 and Hong Leong Investment Bank a Hold with a TP of RM4.15.

Recall that Pos Malaysia’s net profit fell 72% to RM9.48mil year-on-year for the third quarter ended Dec 31, 2017 (3QFY18) against RM33.41mil last year.

The group was hit by lower revenue coupled with higher operational costs in 3QFY18. Revenue was lower by 2% to RM620.7mil compared with RM635.7mil a year ago.

Pos Malaysia said its postal services segment registered lower revenue of RM170.1mil compared with RM187.1mil last year due to the decline in traditional mail volume coupled with lower transactions in retail segment from bill payments, insurance commission as well as reduction in commission rate of unit trust.

For the first nine months to Dec 31, 2017, Pos Malaysia reported a net profit of RM64.2mil on revenue of RM1.81bil.