Inari Amertron Q3 net profit down by 30%

KUALA LUMPUR: Semiconductor company Inari Amertron Bhd's net profit fell by 30.7% to RM38.18mil in the third quarter ended March 31, 2019 mainly due to lower revenue, changes in product mix and higher depreciation cost.

It said on Thursday the earnings weakened from RM55.17mil a year ago. Profit before tax (PBT) fell by 31.9% to RM42.57mil from RM62.5mil.

Its revenue fell by 21.3% to RM256.3mil due to comparatively lower volume loading on a major sensor product and also due in part to the disposal of assets of a 51% owned subsidiary during the last financial year.

Earnings per share were 1.2 sen compared with 1.76 sen. It declared an interim dividend of one sen compared with 1.6 sen.

For the nine months, its net profit fell by 20.1% to RM153.43mil from RM192.16mil in the previous corresponding period. Revenue declined by 17.9% to RM882.19mil from RM1.07bil.

On the outlook, Inari said while the global economic, semiconductor and mobile phone shipments show overall modest positive or negative growth rates, the segmental, product and customer performance has not been favourable to the group during the last two quarters, leading to decrease in both revenue and profit after tax. 

“Also, during this period, the group’s new products only show modest volumes not offsetting drop in existing products and the disposal of assets of a 51% owned subsidiary during FY2018.

“For the remainder of FY2019 and barring unforeseen circumstances, the group expects to post similar performance as the current year-to-date period. 

“Looking forward, using guidance from the group’s current customer forecasts, the business for first half of FY2020 is expected to recover,” it said.

Inari said the short term outlook is clouded by geo-political events like the on-going US-China trade war and Brexit. 

“In the event no major fallout happens, the group can look forward to higher volumes for our existing and new products for FY2020,” it said.