swung into the black in the first quarter ended March 31, 2020, with a net profit of RM4.74mil on the back of lower sales rebates and production cost in the cement segment.The positive performance came after nine consecutive quarters of losses, and despite a slowdown in sales owing to the government's movement control order.
For the current quarter, revenue was 4.2% lower year-on-year at RM131.49mil as compared to the previous corresponding quarter.
"Sales volumes for both cement and ready-mixed concrete segments compared with the corresponding quarter of the previous year, were affected by the nationwide
MCO imposed by the Malaysian Government which started on 18 March 2020.
"This was compounded by lower share of profit from the associate company," said Tasek in its filing with Bursa Malaysia.
The ready-mixed concrete segment achieved lower net revenue of RM45.9mil and operating profit of RM752,000 for the current quarter as compared with previous year’s corresponding quarter of RM55.7mil and RM1.5 mil respectively/
The lower share of profit from the associated company of RM214,000 for the current quarter compared with RM316,000 of the corresponding quarter of previous year.
The outlook in the second quarter is expected to be even more challenging, said Tasek. While it has received approval to resume operations of its cement plant, it expects the MCO to have an adverse impact on its financial performance.