PETALING JAYA: Swift Haulage Bhd
’s near-term earnings outlook remains mixed, as container haulage volumes may soften due to production line maintenance by a major customer, although margins are expected to remain supported by recent rate revisions.
MIDF Research maintained its “sell” call on Swift Haulage despite noting that the company’s earnings results for the first quarter (1Q26) of financial year 2026 (FY26) were in line with its expectations.
“Land transport margins could continue to face pressure from a weaker service mix, while freight forwarding remains the group’s primary earnings contributor,” the research house said in a recent report.
MIDF Research said the group’s core profit after tax and minority interests (Patami) came in at RM7.3mil in 1Q26, broadly in line with its and consensus estimates, accounting for 26% and 24% of full-year forecasts, respectively.
It said overall revenue edged up marginally by 0.2% year-on-year (y-o-y), with growth across most segments offset by weaker performance in the warehousing and depot segment, where revenue declined 15% y-o-y and earnings before interest and taxes (Ebit) fell 12.1% y-o-y.
“Container haulage revenue increased 4.6% y-o-y, while Ebit rose 27.4% y-o-y, likely supported in part by rate revisions.
Land transport revenue was largely flat, although Ebit declined 21.9% y-o-y due to a product mix skewed towards smaller trucks.
“Freight forwarding continued to perform strongly, with revenue growing 6.4% y-o-y and Ebit rising 9% y-o-y on the back of robust project flows.
“Altogether, core Patami inched up marginally by 0.2% y-o-y, with margins remaining stable,” MIDF Research said.
The research house kept its “sell” call for Swift Haulage, but raised its target price to 37 sen from 35 sen, based on 11 times FY27 earnings per share, following the rollover of its valuation base year.
