KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 29): Inari Amertron Bhd, often regarded as one of the bellwethers for local semiconductor-linked stocks, reported a 23% decline in net profit for the fourth quarter ended June 30, 2023 (4QFY2023) as an industry slowdown continued to weigh on revenue, coupled with higher energy costs.

Net profit for 4QFY2023 fell to RM66.31 million or 1.78 sen per share from RM86.22 million or 2.33 sen per share, said the country’s leading outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) services provider in a stock exchange filing on Tuesday (Aug 29).

The group declared its fourth interim dividend of two sen, with an entitlement date of Sept 15 and a payment date of Oct 6.

Revenue for the quarter under review also fell by 11% to RM298.75 million from RM336.18 million a year ago due to “comparatively lower loading volume across all business segments”.

For the full FY2023, Inari’s net profit declined 17% to RM323.54 million from RM390.92 million in FY2022, while revenue dropped 12.5% to RM1.35 billion from RM1.55 billion.

For FY2024, Inari said it is “cautiously optimistic” and will continue to focus on strategies to improve production capacity and utilisation.

The group also aims to improve energy and operational efficiencies to grow revenue consistent with or better than industry forecasts in FY2024.

Shares of Inari closed three sen or 1% higher at RM3.03 on Tuesday, giving it a market capitalisation of RM11.32 billion.