MR DIY profit soars, declares 0.73 sen dividend

MR DIY's chief executive officer Adrian Ong (pic) said: “We are delighted to report strong Q3’20 results despite the challenges of the current operating environment. The Covid-19 pandemic has impacted lives in many ways, and perhaps most of all in consumer behaviour.

PETALING JAYA: Newly listed MR DIY Group (M) Bhd posted a 54% jump in net profit to RM113.45mil in the third quarter (Q3) ended Sept 30,2020, compared to RM73.62mil a year earlier thanks to higher sales.

For the quarter under review, the home improvement retailer recorded a 32% surge in revenue to RM740.2mil from RM561.72mil in the corresponding quarter last year.The company declared an interim dividend of 0.73 sen per share.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia yesterday, MR DIY said it added a record 48 new stores in the third quarter, representing an increase of approximately 100% from the average store additions in each of the preceding two quarters.

“The higher profit after tax growth was a result of the higher average monthly sales per store, coupled with lower operating expenses as a percentage of revenue, which declined from 18.4% to 17.3% in the current quarter, ” it said.

For the nine months of this year, MR DIY registered revenue of RM1.79bil and net profit of RM228.9mil, up 8% and 1%, respectively compared to the corresponding period in 2019.

It said overall growth was attributable to the strong performance in the latter part of Q2’20 and the strong Q3’20 results, net of the impact of the store closures in March and April 2020 as a result of the movement control order (MCO) and conditional movement control order (CMCO).

MR DIY currently operates 688 stores, comprising 656 MR DIY, 28 MR TOY and four MR DOLLAR stores.

up from the 579 MR D.I.Y. and 14 MR TOY stores it had at the end of 2019.

The group aims to open approximately 307 stores across all brands in 2020 and 2021.

MR DIY's chief executive officer Adrian Ong said: “We are delighted to report strong Q3’20 results despite the challenges of the current operating environment. The Covid-19 pandemic has impacted lives in many ways, and perhaps most of all in consumer behaviour.

“Malaysians are more conscious now about how, where, and what they buy.

“As a homegrown enterprise focused on meeting the needs of our customers, we realise the importance of providing convenience, choice, accessibility, and quality products at “Always Low Prices” to value-seeking Malaysians; more so during this trying period, when livelihoods are impacted, ” he added.

Going forward, Ong said the group’s strategy is to continue to focus on creating sustainable growth by expanding our store network across our three brands: MR D.I.Y., MR TOY and MR DOLLAR; driving more foot traffic into its stores to increase revenue as well as expanding its e-commerce business.

“It’s a multi-pronged strategy that we are confident will deliver results, ” he said.