Hartalega Q4 profit climbs to RM62.42m

KUALA LUMPUR: Hartalega Holdings Bhd saw its fourth quarter net profit ended March 2013 expand by 25 per cent to RM62.42 million from RM50.06 million a year ago.

Its fourth quarter revenue rose 12.3 per cent to RM269.77 million from a year ago.

The strong performance bouyed earnings per share to 8.52 sen from 6.87 sen.

In its statement to the stock exchange yesterday, Hartalega said the board has declared an interim dividend of 3.5 sen a share, bringing the total payout for the year ended March 2013 to 10.5 sen a share.

Hartalega managing director Kuan Mun Leong said the good performance was driven by higher manufacturing efficiency at its production plants, which lead to faster production of nitrile gloves for its clients.

Last year was significant for Hartalega because the group managed to top RM1 billion in turnover.

“We’re well prepared to meet the growing global demand for medical gloves,” he said in a statement.

“Plant 6 will come on stream in July and this will significantly boost our production capacity,” Kuan added.

As the world’s biggest nitrile glovemaker, Hartalega is able to churn out 11 billion pieces of gloves per year.

To date, Hartalega’s market capitalisation is in excess of RM3.8 billion.

Its shares rose 15 sen to close at RM5.45 yesterday.