KUALA LUMPUR (March 28): SAM Engineering & Equipment (M) Bhd (KL:SAM), which manufactures production equipment and aerospace products, has promoted its deputy chief executive officer (CEO) and chief operating officer (COO) Ng Boon Keat to succeed Peter Lim Hee Seng as CEO effective April 1, as part of the group's succession planning activity.

Ng, 57, is also appointed as an executive director of the group.

Lim, 62, was appointed to the top job at SAM Engineering in January 2022. He will remain with the group as its non-executive director.

"In his new role as CEO, Ng will guide SAM Engineering through its next phase of growth and innovation, ensuring operational excellence while strengthening the group's commitment to sustainability and industry leadership," it said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia on Friday. SAM Engineering is a subsidiary of Singapore Aerospace Manufacturing Pte Ltd.

According to SAM Engineering, Ng is an engineer by profession and began his career as a process engineer for a US multinational company in Penang in 1993. Ng then joined SAM Meerkat (M) Sdn Bhd, formerly known as LKT Manufacturing Sdn Bhd, as general manager in 2006. Over time, he worked his way up through several key positions, including vice president, corporate vice president and COO of SAM Engineering in 2012, before assuming his current role of deputy CEO in January 2024.

SAM Engineering also announced the appointment of Lim Bee Vian, 61, as independent director of the company. Bee Vian has over 33 years of experience in advising corporate and investors on strategies, policies and value propositions for investing in Malaysia. Prior to her retirement from the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida) as the deputy CEO of investment development in July 2024, she oversaw the entire project evaluation team consisting of 11 industries and services divisions.

For the cumulative nine months ended Dec 31, 2024 (9MFY2025), SAM Engineering posted a 19.6% decline in net profit to RM66.33 million compared with RM82.48 million a year earlier, on lower profit from both its equipment and aerospace segments. Revenue fell by a marginal 1.2% to RM1.11 billion from RM1.12 billion in 9MFY2024.

The group had blamed the lower profit from the equipment segment on lower sales offset by lower interest expenses. "For the aerospace segment, the lower profit was due to higher start-up cost in Thailand and lower government grants received offset by positive contribution from Aviatron (M) Sdn Bhd and compensation received for defective material," it said.

SAM Engineering shares closed down 9 sen or 2.37% at RM3.71 on Friday, giving it a market capitalisation of RM2.5 billion. The stock has fallen 16% so far this year.