Panasonic Q4 net profit jumps

PETALING JAYA: Panasonic Manufacturing Malaysia Bhd's net profit for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2016 rose 51.7% to RM36.21 million from RM23.87 million a year ago, mainly because of the higher revenue and improved margins in both the home appliance products and the fan and other products segments due to favorable currency exchange conditions.
The company's revenue was higher by 38.6% at RM249.73 million compared with RM180.18 million registered in the previous year's corresponding quarter due to the minimisation of inventory levels by both sales companies and dealers prior to the implementation of Goods & Services Tax (GST) in April 2015.
For the full year period, its net profit jumped 47.6% to RM146.90 million from RM99.54 million last year thanks to higher profit in both home appliance products and the fan and other products segments.
Revenue increased 16.7% to RM1.09 billion compared with RM931.02 million mainly attributed to a favorable currency exchange condition, better performance from higher sales in domestic markets after the GST implementation and new transferred rice cooker models from Thailand.
It proposed a final single tier dividend of RM1.24 per share of RM1.00 for the financial year ended March 31, 2016, subject to shareholders' approval at the forthcoming AGM.
Recent changes in government's policy on the hiring of foreign workers may have an unfavorable impact to production stability. As a result, the business environment is expected to become more challenging.
"Nevertheless, the company remains cautiously optimistic and will continue to focus on developing new products for its strategic markets whilst leveraging on its operational efficiency to reduce and minimise overall costs of production."