KUALA LUMPUR: Dragged down by lower selling prices, Southern Steel Bhd reported a net loss of RM34.85 million for the fourth quarter ended June 30, 2019 (4QFY19), as compared with a net profit of RM35.21 million a year ago.

This is the steel products manufacturer’s third consecutive quarterly net loss, resulting in a full-year loss of RM119.05 million, compared with an RM210.85 million net profit for the previous year.

Its 4Q revenue came in at RM696.98 million, down 21.6% from RM888.64 million a year ago. This brings full-year revenue to RM3.14 billion, 18% lower as compared with RM3.70 billion registered a year ago.

No dividend was declared for the current year, as opposed to a 3.5 sen payout in 2018.

“As noted in the previous few quarters, the lower revenue and loss before tax for the quarter under review and financial year-to-date, as compared with the corresponding quarter or period of FY18, were largely due to lower selling prices,” said Southern Steel.

The group expects the market to remain volatile, and the impact from the revival of certain infrastructure projects by the government will be “slow and insufficient to address the oversupply condition in the market as created by the new entrants”.