KUALA LUMPUR: Sime Darby Bhd's net profit fell 12 per cent to RM207 million in the first quarter (Q1) financial year ended September 30, 2022 from RM236 million a year ago.
This is due to weakening consumer sentiment in China which impacted the motors division, higher finance costs and loss from discontinuing operations as it completed the sale of Weifang Port companies in China in November.
This was partly offset by higher profits from the Malaysian and Australasian operations.
However, the company's revenue grew 14.5 per cent to RM12.18 billion in Q1 2023 from RM10.63 billion in Q1 2022.
Sime Darby group chief executive officer Datuk Jeffri Salim Davidson said the company is cautiously optimistic that financial performance for the financial year 2023 (FY23) would be better driven by the expected one-off gains from disposal of non-core assets.
Jeffri said FY23 is expected to be a challenging year, but the company is confident that we will weather the storm.
"Looking at positive prospects ahead, for motors, we will continue delivering the backlog of orders in Malaysia until the third quarter of FY23.
"We have also recently secured the BYD Malaysia Sdn Bhd distributorship for Malaysia, which promises to bring a lot of excitement to the Malaysian market," he said.