KUALA LUMPUR (June 23): Poh Huat Resources Holdings Bhd said its operations were affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, causing its net profit to fall 27% to RM6.95 million in the second quarter ended April 30, 2020, from RM9.54 million previously.

“The disruption in business and daily activities has resulted in sharp contraction in both aggregate supply and demand due to movement restrictions, health concerns and economic uncertainties,” the furniture maker said in a filing today.

Revenue fell 18% to RM121.18 million during the quarter under review, compared to RM147.01 million a year ago.

With the movement control order in place during this period, it said manufacturing activities in its Malaysia factories were suspended from March 18 to May 4, causing turnover to drop by 31.2%.

As such, net profit for the cumulative first half of the year was lower by 26% at RM18.29 million versus RM24.8 million previously, as revenue was also lower for the period by 10% at RM309.98 million versus RM344.07 million a year ago.

With no clear resolution of the Covid-19 pandemic, the outlook in the months ahead remains highly unpredictable, said Poh Huat, which is now expecting the full impact of the Covid-19 pandemic to be reflected in the second half of its current financial year.

“Although orders are slowly returning, when our production will return to normalcy is questionable. Operations have yet to return to capacity and [are] unlikely any time soon. Our immediate priority is to ensure resumption of operations and stable shipments. We are working with our customers to manage production schedules vis-à-vis new supply and logistic arrangement,” it said.

Shares of Poh Huat have gained 41 sen over the past three months. It closed at RM1.04 today, for a market capitalisation of RM240.33 million. Year to date, the stock has slid 31.6%.