KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 14): MR DIY Group (M) Bhd reported a marginal increase in net profit to RM136.08 million for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2022 (4QFY2022), from RM134.55 million a year earlier, on the back of a higher revenue.

Quarterly revenue rose 9.27% to RM1.07 billion from RM975.39 million in 4QFY2021, driven by positive sales contributions from new stores, which grew 20% year-on-year from 900 stores to 1,080 stores, leading to a 15.2% increase in total transactions to 38.1 million.

However, profit after tax was impacted by one-off prosperity corporate tax of RM10.2 million on subsidiaries with chargeable income above RM100 million, the home improvement retailer said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia.

Profitability was also dragged by higher administrative and other operating expenses. Administrative expenses rose 34.2% while other operating expenses increased 26.8%, led by higher staff costs, utility expenses, and the depreciation of right-of-use assets, which largely corresponded with an increase in the number of stores from continued business expansion, the group said.

MR DIY declared an interim dividend of 0.6 sen — compared with 0.9 sen paid a year ago — to be paid on March 24, with March 2 as the ex-date.

This brings the total dividend for FY2022 to 2.4 sen, compared with 2.95 sen for FY2021.

For FY2022 as a whole, MR DIY's cumulative net profit increased 9.52% to RM472.95 million, from RM431.83 million in FY2021. Full-year revenue rose 18.15% to RM3.99 billion from RM3.37 billion.

The group said that given persistent cost pressures, its price adjustments to its core product offering have led to the improvement in gross profit margins in 4QFY2022 compared to earlier in the year.

"We have been fortunate to have delivered continuous growth with revenue reaching the RM4 billion mark on the strength of consistent quarterly and annual performances," said MR DIY chief executive officer Adrian Ong in a statement.

He added that the group is optimistic about its prospects going forward, given the positive post-pandemic sentiment.

"The more favourable freight environment and the strengthening of the Malaysian ringgit against both the US dollar and Chinese renminbi also favour a better performance. [However] there are still concerns on the impact on household income given rising interest rate and increases in cost of living," he said.

Ong said the group has targeted to open another 180 new stores in 2023, to bring the nationwide total to over 1,200.

Shares in MR DIY closed two sen or 1.13% lower at RM1.75 on Tuesday (Feb 14), giving the group a market capitalisation of RM16.51 billion. Over the past one year, the counter has depreciated 29.7% from RM2.49.