KUALA LUMPUR: Hartalega Holdings Bhd’s net profit increased 1.3 per cent to RM121.27 million in the third quarter (Q3) ended December 31, 2019 from RM119.76 million recorded in the same quarter a year ago.
Its revenue in Q3 increased 10.1 per cent to RM796.55 million from RM723.39 million.
Hartalega managing director Kuan Mun Leong said the results were driven by higher sales volume on the back of strong global demand for nitrile gloves.
This reflected that the company’s strategy of sustainable long-term growth was bearing fruit, led by its Next Generation Integrated Glove Manufacturing Complex (NGC).
“Demand growth is expected to continue, particularly in the near-term given the ongoing coronavirus outbreak in China.
“As a responsible industry participant and the world’s largest producer of nitrile gloves, we are well-positioned to provide support via our high-quality products to protect medical practitioners who are on the frontlines of this epidemic,” he said in a statement.
Kuan said as part of Hartalega’s corporate social responsibility efforts, the company had pledged to donate a total of 2.58 million pieces of gloves to this cause.
He said it had commissioned the first production line of Plant 6 of the NGC in January this year.
“With the remaining production lines set to come on-stream progressively, this will enable the group to continue catering to growing demand.
“Concurrently, Plant 7 which will focus on small orders and specialty products is also underway. Once Plants 6 and 7 are fully completed by financial year 2022, this will see our annual installed capacity increase to 44.7 billion pieces,” he said.
Kuan said despite challenging external factors, the group was focused on ongoing cost optimisation to manage margin pressure.
“As we progress further in our strategic expansion plans, we are confident that the outlook remains positive for the group moving forward,” he said.
For the nine-month period, Hartalega’s net profit rose 12.5 per cent to RM319.2 million from RM364.84 million, while revenue increased marginally to RM2.15 billion from RM2.14 billion.
As a result of the group’s strong performance, the board declared a second interim dividend of 1.8 sen per share single tier for its financial year ending March 31, 2020 payable on March 27.