PDZ posts loss in Q3

PETALING JAYA: PDZ Holdings Bhd saw a net loss of RM99,000 for the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2017 compared with a net profit of RM2.62 million a year ago as revenue plunged on its ocean liner business being affected by the arrest of its vessels, and a challenging shipping industry.
Revenue was at RM2.51 million for the quarter compared with RM20.90 million in the previous year's corresponding quarter.
For the nine months period, its net loss widened to RM2.76 million from a net loss of RM2.59 million in the previous year. Revenue was also 90% lower at RM7.55 million compared with RM75.83 million due to its ocean liner business.
PDZ said the shipping industry is expected to improve in the coming years with manufacturing across Asia’s three largest economies of China, Japan and India having gaining momentum, not forgetting the growth in Europe and US, albeit some policy changes in the industry.
The Malaysian economy is generally expected to grow, with support from domestic demand and further supported by wage and employment growth, and additional impetus from government measures supporting disposable income of households. Investment activity will continue to be anchored by the on-going implementation of infrastructure and capital spending in the manufacturing and services sectors.
It said the expected growth in the global and local economy is expected to increase demand for freight transport, including container liner services, which transports 90% of the world’s manufactured goods. This should positively impact the container liner industry and benefit industry players that offer related services.
"On an on-going basis, the group continues to strive for efficient cost management of its business, while continuing to look for related business to provide enhancement to the group's existing and future earnings," said PDZ.
PDZ's share price closed unchanged at 4.5 sen with 2.99 million shares traded.