Employees work on the production line of the CX-5 model car at the Mazda Sollers Manufacturing Rus joint venture plant of Sollers and Japanese Mazda in Vladivostok, Russia September 10, 2018.
KUALA LUMPUR: Bermaz Auto Bhd
's net profit jumped 89.5% to RM265.26mil in the financial year ended April 30, 2019, underpinned by higher revenue and improvement in gross profit margin from the domestic operations, and a significantly higher share of profit contribution from its associate Mazda Malaysia Sdn Bhd.
It reported on Wednesday the net profit had jumped from RM140mil a year ago. Its revenue increased by 25.1% to RM2.49bil from RM1.99bil due to robust sales volume growth
from the domestic operations.
The main factors were the change in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) from the standard rate of 6% to 0% from June to August 2018 as well as the group's offer to absorb the Sales and Service Tax (SST) for bookings received prior to Sept 1, 2018 had boosted demand, in particularly the SUV models.
However, this was was partly offset by the contraction in sales volume from the Philippine operations as its sales was impacted by the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law.
Pre-tax profit rose by 73.7% to RM342.3mil from RM197.1mil, largely due to higher revenue and improvement in gross profit margin from the domestic operations, and a significantly higher share of profit contribution from Mazda Malaysia.
“The improvement in the domestic gross profit margin was primarily due to the favourable sales mix towards high value models and favourable foreign exchange movement, while the higher share of profit contribution from Mazda Malaysia was mainly due to an increase in production volume for the new CX-5 model.
However, this was partly offset by a lower profit contribution from the Philippine operations due to weaker sales and compressed profit margin.
Bermaz declared a fourth interim single-tier dividend of 3.5 sen per share and special single tier dividend of seven sen per share totalign 10.5 sen.
In the fourth quarter, its net profit rose by 5% to RM60.05mil from RM57.18mil largely due to lower operating overheads. The lower share of profit contribution from Mazda Malaysia was mainly due to the lower production volume for the CX-5 model due to the anticipation that sales will normalise over the next few months.
Its revenue however fell by 5.6% to RM538.27mil from RM570.59mil mainly due to lower vehicles sales volume recorded from both the domestic and Philippine operations.
During the quarter under review, the sales volume in Malaysia normalised as the group had fulfilled all back orders received during the tax holiday prior to Sept 1, 2018.
“The sales volume from the Philippine operations continues to be affected by the TRAIN law that was implemented in January 2018. The TRAIN law has caused an increase in excise tax and consequently car prices have also increased, thus dampening the demand for motor vehicles in the Philippines,” Bermaz said.
Earnings per share were 5.18 sen compared with 4.93 sen.
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