KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 19): Steel poles maker Mestron Holdings Bhd's net profit for the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2020 surged 183% year-on-year to RM3.09 million from RM1.09 million, due to the recovery in sales following the business interruptions experienced during the Movement Control Order (MCO) in March and April.

In a bourse filing today, Mestron said revenue for the quarter rose to RM19.07 million from RM17.95 million earlier.

Earnings per share was 0.39 sen versus 0.24 previously.

For the nine months ended Sept 30, Mestron posted a net profit of RM3.89 million versus RM1.49 million a year ago, despite lower revenue of RM38.04 million against RM53.32 million earlier.

In a separate statement, Mestron managing director Por Teong Eng said the boost in revenue and higher profits was mainly attributable to backlogged orders from the second quarter spilt over and delivered in the third quarter.

“Mestron’s core revenue is from the manufacturing segment, which accounts for approximately 69.8% of the total revenue for 3QFY2020. 

“The revenue from the manufacturing segment was mainly due to sale of decorative poles, specialty poles and trading of outdoor lighting products,” he said.

Meanwhile, on the progress of the Mass Rapid Transit Line 2 (MRT2) and East Klang Valley Expressway (EKVE) projects, Por said the initial stage of the MCO had affected the targeted recognition of revenue from the MRT2 and EKVE projects as the company needs to delay some of the deliveries due to the reduction in operating hours, workforce and customers unable to operate during the MCO.

“Our operations have slowly returned to near pre-MCO levels.

“The contributions of MRT2 and EKVE projects are reflected in our 2QFY2020 and 3QFY2020 results,” he said. 

On Mestron’s prospects, Por said the company will strive to deliver satisfactory performance for the current financial year despite the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

He said the expectation is based on the fact that the company’s ongoing initiatives have started to show positive traction on its overall business.

He said the initiatives include exploring new, strategic business opportunities to expand and diversify its business as part of the company’s long-term growth strategy in enhancing its earnings base.

“We will continue to improve our own productivity and efficiency to face these external uncontrollable factors,” he said.

At midday break today, Mestron was unchanged at 18.5 sen with 114,634 shares traded.