Pentamaster stays cautious amidst ongoing macroeconomic volatility

PETALING JAYA: Pentamaster Corp Bhd believes the current volatile and unstable macro environment look is unlikely to abate anytime soon.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia, the semiconductor company said this is in light of the ongoing geopolitical instability across different regions and the persistent inflationary pressure.

Nevertheless, Pentamaster said it will be adopting an observance stance and remains optimistic on concluding the financial year with another revenue milestone, on the back of an encouraging order book from its automotive and medical devices industry segments.

“Benefitting from the robustness and structural shift in global automotive electrification and e-mobility, the automotive industry segment is expected to contribute the highest proportion of the Group’s revenue in 2023.”

For the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2023, Pentamaster’s net profit rose to RM23.5mil from RM20.07mil in the previous corresponding period, while revenue in the third quarter grew to RM180.74mil from RM155.6mil previously.

Basic earnings per share stood at 3.30 sen versus 2.82 sen a year earlier.

Pentamaster said the improved revenue was mainly due to an increase in contribution from the factory automation solutions business segment.

For the nine-months period ended Sept 30, 2023, Pentamaster net profit grew to RM68.43mil from RM59.68mil a year earlier, while revenue grew to RM522.93mil from RM452.96mil previously.

After recording solid double-digit revenue growth for the nine months ended Sept 30, 2023, Pentamaster said revenue momentum from the medical devices industry is expected to remain in propelling the group’s factory automation solutions segment to the next level of business growth for the year.

“Fortified by a relatively healthy balance sheet and financial position, the construction of the group’s new manufacturing plant which is internally funded, remains on track.

“With phase one of the manufacturing plant expecting to be completed by end of this year, coupled with the current workforce of more than 900, the group will intensify and remain steadfast in executing its strategies.”