KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 24): Dagang NeXchange Bhd (DNeX) reported a net profit of RM43.84 million for its second financial quarter ended Dec 31, 2021 (2QFY22) as its semiconductor wafer foundry, SilTerra Malaysia Bhd, contributed to higher revenue.
Its earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter stood at 1.4 sen while its quarterly revenue was RM353.31 million in 2QFY22.
There is no year-on-year comparison available for the quarter as the group changed its financial year end from Dec 31 to June 30 in February last year.
However, on a quarter-on-quarter basis, DNeX's net profit was 85.07% lower than its 1QFY22 net profit of RM293.56 million, which was a result of its business combination with SilTerra of RM264.51 million.
DNeX's EPS came in at 8.41 sen, lower compared with 9.81 sen in the preceding quarter, while its revenue was 30.44% higher than its 1QFY22's RM270.87 million as all of its business segments recorded higher revenues in 2QFY22.
The group declared an interim dividend of 0.6 sen per share for FY22. The entitlement and payment dates will be determined by DNeX's board of directors at a later date.
On prospects, DNeX said the industry outlook for its core businesses, especially semiconductor and oil & gas, is expected to remain favourable in the near term and coupled with the group's efforts to its business fundamentals, the group is optimistic about delivering a favourable financial performance in FY22.
DNeX said that it is optimistic that SilTerra will deliver continuous growth, noting that it has earmarked capital expenditure investments of RM645 million to increase the annual production capacity of SilTerra by 20% to 10 million mask layers annually, which will be ready by early 2023.
Meanwhile, the group highlighted that its profitability will increase due the significant rise of Brent crude oil price in terms of higher average selling price while also making it an opportune time for it to monetise its reserves in the Anasuria Cluster and execute the development of its greenfield asset, such as Avalon Oil Development.
At market close on Thursday, DNeX's shares fell seven sen or 5.79% to RM1.14, valuing it at RM3.6 billion based on 3.16 billion outstanding shares.