KUALA LUMPUR: KNM GROUP BHD [] saw its third quarter bottomline improve by 75% to RM56.09 million from RM31.92 million a year ago.

It said on Wednesday, Nov 24 that pre-tax profit was RM41.03 million while there was also tax incentive of RM19.54 million.

The group's effective tax rate was lower than the statutory tax rate mainly due to the availability of certain tax incentives.

Revenue however declined 8.7% to RM418.36 million from RM458.34 million. Earnings per share were 1.42 sen versus 0.81 sen.

When compared to the second quarter, KNM's revenue of RM418.36 million and net profit before taxation and minority interest of RM41.03 million for the third quarter were higher by RM35.15 million and RM32.71 million.

"The higher revenue and profit for this quarter are mainly due to improvement in capacity utilisation and higher contribution margins during the quarter," it said.

For the nine-month period ended Sept 30, 2010, the group achieved revenue of RM1.17 billion, profit after tax and minority interest of RM110.57 million and EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) of RM154.46 million.

Compared to the same period of previous year, the better performance in this period was due to higher contribution margins during the quarter.