Hartalega Q1 profit surges to RM63m

KUALA LUMPUR: Hartalega Holdings Bhd posted a net profit of RM63 million for its first quarter ended June 30 from RM53.4 million in the same quarter a year ago.

Revenue rose 12.2 per cent to RM278 million from RM247.6 million previously.

For the period under review, earnings per share was 8.56 sen while net assets per share stood at 109.77 sen.

In its statement issued yesterday, Hartalega said the board has declared an interim dividend of 3.5 sen a share, amounting to RM25.68 million in respect of the financial year ended March 31, paid on June 20 this year.

“We are pleased to have begun the financial year on a strong note, and given our prospects ahead, driven by the ongoing switching momentum from latex to nitrile gloves, we are confident of maintaining our pole position,” its managing director Kuan Mun Leong said.

He noted that global demand for nitrile gloves is growing at a steady rate of more than 20 per cent per annum.

“And we expect that this will be further buoyed by rising demand in key markets as well as emerging markets,” he said.

Kuan said the group is well-positioned to meet the growing demand as its Plant 6 is now fully operational with 10 high-capacity production lines boosting its production capacity by 30 per cent, or an additional 3.9 billion pieces of gloves per annum.

“The improved operational efficiency of the new plant’s production lines contributed to the increase in our profit margins.

“Furthermore, we are embarking on our largest undertaking to date with our Next Generation Integrated Glove Manufacturing Complex (NGC), which will, once completed, quadruple our production capacity,” he said.