KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 29): EG Industries Bhd closed its FY2023 with a record high annual net profit of RM38.44 million, triple the RM10.82 million it made in FY2022, as it achieved its highest annual revenue of RM1.35 billion, up 20.97% from RM1.11 billion previously, thanks to a favourable product mix of consumer electronics, 5G wireless access and photonic-modular-related products.

Earnings per share rose to 9.04 sen from 2.75 sen in the previous year, the electronic manufacturing services (EMS) provider's bourse filing showed. 

The record profit came as the group's net profit for its final quarter ended June 30 jumped to RM9.69 million from a net loss of RM4.64 million in the corresponding three months in the previous year, despite a 3.98% drop in revenue to RM242.92 million from RM252.98 million on lower sales orders from data storage and consumer electronic products. This was because its bottomline was supported by the favourable product sales mix, despite some foreign exchange losses and higher interest rate in the market. 

As a result, it recorded an earnings per share of 2.28 sen for the quarter under review, versus a loss per share of 1.18 sen for 4QFY2022.  No dividend was declared.

On its prospects, EG Industries group chief executive officer and executive officer Datuk Alex Kang said the group is making good headway in the construction of its latest factory in Batu Kawan, Penang, en route to enlarging its capacity to produce more advanced 5G photonic products.

“We are proud that our strategies and the strong cooperation from our entire team and customers have propelled EG Industries to reach record-high performance in FY2023. Revenue derived from our newest segment of 5G wireless and photonic-related products made up approximately a third of FY2023 revenue.

“To further expand this 5G segment, we are collaborating with another customer — a worldwide top three ethernet switch company — through our 30% associate company Genitronic (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd to produce 5G photonic modular components using co-packaged optics technology by the first half of 2024. This attests to the increasing trust from our customers over the years, which is set to escalate even more when the Batu Kawan plant is completed,” Kang said in a statement on Tuesday (Aug 29).

Having already completed piling works and progressing to build the superstructure of the latest manufacturing plant in Batu Kawan, the facility is on track to be commissioned in 2024, Kang noted.  

The new plant complements the group’s existing facilities in Sg Petani, Kedah. Upon commissioning, it is expected to increase EG Industries’ total built-up area of production, warehousing and office space by 45% from 55,000 sq m to 80,000 sq m across Sg Petani, Kedah and Batu Kawan, Penang.

The upcoming Smart Factory 4.0 had attracted the attention of a few notable local and foreign customers, said EG Industries, including US-based Cambridge Industries Group (CIG), with whom the group had signed a letter of intent to produce advanced high-speed optical signal transmitter and receiver for 5G wireless network (optical modules) using photonic and semiconductor technologies. This would be CIG’s first technology transfer to South East Asia.

EG Industries' share price settled three sen or 2.03% higher at RM1.51, giving the group a market capitalisation of RM706 million.

Over the past one year, the stock has about tripled from when it was trading at 53 sen.