KUCHING: HPI Resources Bhd (HPI) is on track to outperform for the financial year ended May 31, 2011, with net profits for its third quarter ended February 28, 2011 (3Q11) doubling to RM6.9 million from RM3.1 million in the previous corresponding quarter.
The leading corrugated packaging manufacturer saw 3Q11 revenues jump 11.6 per cent to RM105.4 million from RM94.5 million previously, in line with higher demand.
The group’s strong bottom line growth was attributed to its efficient operating cost structure, resulting in group profits before tax (PBT) growing 137.3 per cent to RM8.4 million from RM3.6 million previously.
“Our strong performance was primarily the result of both our paper milling and corrugated packaging divisions demonstrating double-digit expansion in revenues and operating profits. We are reaping the fruits of better cost management and higher productivity measures put in place,” HPI group managing director Albert Chan Chor Ngiak said in a press statement yesterday.
“The group is poised to mark strong outperformance for financial year 2011,” he added. On the financial front, its revenues from the packaging segment rose 16.8 per cent to RM93.7 million in 3Q11, versus RM80.2 million in 3Q10. Its paper mill saw near minus 10 per cent increase in sales to RM19.8 million in 3Q11 from RM18.0 million previously.
Group earnings per share stood at 12.43 sen in 3Q11, versus 5.88 sen in 3Q10, based on the weighted average number of ordinary shares in the respective periods.
For the cumulative nine months ended February 28, 2011 (9M11), group revenues increased 16.1 per cent year-on-year to RM314.7 million from RM270.9 million, while group PBT totalled RM24.9 million from RM18.1 million previously.
Commenting on the group’s prospects, Chan said, “Having been in this business for more than 20 years, HPI has not only developed a diverse and reputable customer portfolio, but more importantly partnered in their growth as they ramped up their manufacturing activities to meet increasing global demand for consumer products.”
“At the same time, we have honed our business model to achieve highly-efficient operations. Coupled with our ongoing efforts to integrate our paper mill operations with our packaging manufacturing division, we believe that we are ready to capture even more market share in future,” concluded Chan.