Inari cautiously optimistic on prospects

KUALA LUMPUR: Inari Amertron Bhd remains cautiously positive about its prospects for the financial year ending June 30, 2023 (FY23).

“The strong US dollar has been favourable to the group in the current quarter and its strength is expected to remain for the first half of FY23 on indications of rising interest rates in the USA,” the semiconductor company said in the notes accompanying its financial results.

Inari said Gartner released its worldwide semiconductor latest forecast on July 27, noting that the global semiconductor revenue growth is projected to grow 7.4% in 2022 to US$639bil, down from 2021 growth of 26.3%.

This is down from the previous quarter’s forecast of 13.6% growth in 2022.

Although chip shortages are abating, the semiconductor revenue is projected to decline 2.5% to US$623bil in 2023 seeing weakness in semiconductor end markets.

In the report, Gartner projected that semiconductor revenue from smartphones is on pace to slow to 3.1% growth in 2022, while semiconductor revenue from the data centre market will remain resilient for longer at 22% growth in 2022 due to continued cloud infrastructure investment.

In the fourth quarter ended June 30 (4Q), Inari posted a marginally lower net profit of RM86.22mil against RM88.36mil a year earlier, mainly due to lower revenue growth and a higher provision of deferred taxation.

Its earnings per share for the period stood at 2.33 sen against 2.64 sen last year.

The group recorded revenue of RM336.2mil in 4Q, down 7% compared to the same quarter in the previous year of RM361.3mil.

Inari said the decrease was mainly due to lower loading volume in optoelectronics and generic business segments due to raw material supply constraints.

For the full financial year ended June 30, Inari posted a net profit of RM390.92mil, up 18.3% from RM330.47mil a year prior, while revenue grew 8.4% to RM1.55mil against RM1.43bil previously.

“Growth was recorded in all business segments with the radio frequency (RF) business segment continuing to be the key contributor to the revenue growth,” Inari said.

The group has proposed the fourth single-tier interim dividend of 2.20 sen per ordinary share in respect of the financial year ending June 30, 2022.

The entitlement date and payment date are on Sept 9 and Oct 6 respectively.