KUALA LUMPUR (June 28): Magni-Tech Industries Bhd’s net profit in the fourth quarter ended April 30, 2017 (4QFY17) doubled to RM38.5 million from RM18.84 million a year earlier, mainly because it recorded higher garment sales and benefited from favourable foreign exchange rates.

The group plans to pay 7 sen dividend per share for FY17, comprising a final dividend of 3 sen and a special dividend of 4 sen. The special dividend is 2 sen higher than FY16's, "mainly due to encouraging financial performance of the group", it told Bursa Malaysia today.

This brings its total FY17 payout to 23 sen, from 18 sen in FY16.

Meanwhile, its quarterly results showed a 54.5% jump in revenue to RM299.65 million from RM193.99 million a year ago, mainly due to a 66.6% jump in its garment segment revenue, thanks to higher sale orders and favourable forex rates.

Consequently, the garment segment's profit before tax (PBT) surged 95%, which the group also attributed to on-going productivity improvements.
 
As for the packaging segment, revenue slipped 6.9% after its 99.64%-owned South Island Packaging (Penang) Sdn Bhd ceased business in 4QFY17. However, after crediting the reversal of overprovision for SIPP’s staff benefits and business closure costs totalling RM491,000, PBT grew 34.1%.

“Had there been no such reversal, packaging PBT would have increased by 9.2% compared to 4QFY2016 mainly due to higher gross profit margin and other operating income,” Magni-Tech said.

For the full financial year ended April 30, 2017 (FY17), net profit came in at RM120.1 million, up 46.3% from RM82.11 million in FY16, while revenue climbed 33.5% to RM1.14 billion from RM854.07 million in FY16.

Moving forward, the group said the manufacturing and sales of garment will still be its major revenue contributor, and maintains a cautiously positive outlook for the next financial year amid the global economic uncertainty.
 
Both the garment and packaging businesses are expected to remain profitable for the next financial year, it said.
 
Magni-Tech's shares closed up 3% or 20 sen at RM6.85, valuing the group at RM1.1 billion.