KUALA LUMPUR: Bermaz Auto Bhd
(BAuto) anticipates that the local economy and automotive industry will be affected by the ongoing influx of Chinese-made vehicles, the upcoming petrol subsidy rationalisation, and the increase in base electricity tariffs in mid-2025.
“Hence, the launching of new and/or new facelifts models of the group’s existing and new vehicle marques are dependent on the market sentiments and economic conditions then,” BAuto said in a statement.
“The Board anticipates the performance of the group to be challenging for the financial year ending April 30, 2025 (FY25),” it added.
In the third quarter ended Jan 31, BAuto posted a lower net profit of RM24.1mil, or earnings per share of 2.07 sen, compared with RM70.5mil, or 6.04 sen in the year-ago quarter.
Its revenue for the quarter fell 32.8% to RM602.1mil against RM896.5mil posted in the previous year.
The lower revenue was largely due to a drop in sales volume from the domestic operations of its Mazda and Kia marques as they were mainly impacted by the continuous influx of Chinese-made vehicles into the market, which are competitively priced.
BAuto said the higher group revenue in the preceding year's corresponding quarter was mainly due to the domestic operations of its Mazda marque, especially from its CX-30 CKD model, which continued to register strong sales since its launch in March 2023.
In the nine months ended Jan 31, BAuto posted a net profit of RM134.7mil, down 48.3% from RM260.8mil previously while revenue fell 30% to RM2.09bil against RM2.99bil.
The group has also accounted for the expense relating to the group’s employees’ share scheme of about RM5.3mil in the period under review as compared to RM0.3mil in the preceding
year corresponding period.
For the quarter ended Jan 31, the board has approved a third interim single-tier dividend of 1.75 sen per share for FY25, compared to 4.25 sen per share in the same quarter last year.
The entitlement date is set for April 22, with payment scheduled for May 7.
This brings the total dividend declared for the financial period ended Jan 31 to 15.25 sen per share, up from 14.25 sen per share in the previous financial period.
