PETALING JAYA: Vitrox Corp Bhd
’s operating outlook continues to remain challenging amid the US government’s reciprocal tariffs, which may prompt manufacturers to defer capital expenditure (capex).
CGSI Research said the deferment in capex by manufacturers came amid the uncertainties and potential softening of end-customer demand.
For the first quarter of 2025 (1Q25), ViTrox’s core net profit rose 36% year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM24.2mil on the back of strong revenue growth, coming off a low base in 1Q24.
The group’s 1Q25 revenue of RM141mil came in at the higher end of management’s guidance but was partially dragged by y-o-y higher depreciation expense due to expansion into a new facility.
“The results, however, lagged expectations, making up just 15% to 17% of our and Bloomberg consensus full-year estimates,” the research house said in a report yesterday.
CGSI Research said pricing pressure from Chinese competitors remained elevated, particularly in the machine vision system segment, compelling ViTrox to sustain higher research and development spending to stay competitive.
“To address the headwinds, the group is considering setting up small-scale operations in China to increase localised content, an initiative that we believe could enhance its competitiveness and strengthen its sales funnel with Tier 1 customers,” it said.
In light of the developments, CGSI Research said it revised its financial year 2025 (FY25) and FY26 earnings per share forecasts downward by 23% to 27%, reflecting lower sales volume growth assumptions across all business segments.
