PETALING JAYA: Sime Darby Bhd’s net profit decreased 12.29% to RM207 million in the first quarter ended Sept 30, 2022 (Q1’23) compared with RM236 million in the corresponding quarter last year, mainly due to lower profit from its motors segment, higher finance costs and loss from discontinuing operations, which were partly offset by higher profit from its industrial segment.
However, revenue rose 14.55% to RM12.18 billion from RM10.64 billion for the same quarter in the previous year.
Group CEO Datuk Jeffri Salim Davidson said that it expects FY23 to be a challenging year. However, the group is confident that it will weather the storm.
“Looking at positive prospects ahead, for motors, we will continue delivering the backlog of orders in Malaysia until the third quarter of FY23. We have also recently secured the BYD distributorship for Malaysia, which promises to bring a lot of excitement to the Malaysian market.
“The industrial division, particularly the products and services supporting the mining sector, is expected to perform well this financial year with the backlog of maintenance work coming in and bullish commodity prices supporting continued investment in the resources sector,” he said in a statement today.
Jeffri added the group remains committed to enhancing the efficiency of its operations as it carries on with its expansion plans. It will continue to invest to grow its sales network for both the motors and industrial businesses as well as actively exploring merger and acquisition opportunities to extend its core businesses reach.
“The group’s results in the current quarter were impacted by the lower profit from the China operations and increase in interest rates across many jurisdictions. There is uncertainty on the global economic outlook, with ongoing tightening monetary policy by many central banks, volatility in foreign exchange rates, high inflation rates, supply chain disruptions and geopolitical tensions,” the group said in a bourse filing.