KUALA LUMPUR (May 18): Supermax Corp Bhd remained in the red for the second consecutive quarter, albeit with a narrowed net loss of RM39.92 million in its third quarter ended March 31, 2023 (3QFY2023), against RM108 million in the preceding quarter (2QFY2023).

Besides the slower demand and the Withhold Release Order imposed by the US Customs and Border Protection, Supermax’s net loss was partly caused by asset impairment of RM23 million arising from the decommissioning of three older plants, two of which are permanent and the third plant earmarked for rebuilding.

On a year-on-year comparison, the glove maker posted a net profit of RM13.01 million a year ago.

Revenue was nearly flat at RM175.74 million in 3QFY2023 compared with RM174.78 million the quarter prior. However, it was a sharp 57% fall compared with RM407.8 million the year before due to lower average selling price and higher costs.

Its loss per share was 1.51 sen against 0.49 sen earnings per share, according to its bourse filing.

Nevertheless, the glove maker declared an interim dividend of 3.5 sen per share payable on July 18.

For its nine-month period of FY2023 (9MFY2023), it suffered a net loss of RM142.28 million against a net profit of RM699.37 million in 9MFY2022.

Cumulative revenue for the nine-month period shrank by nearly 75% to RM598.49 million from RM2.39 billion a year earlier.

On its prospects, Supermax expects to see productivity, competitiveness and profitability to improve along with a drop in unit per cost moving forward.

The company plans to replace old production lines with high capacity, high efficiency lines while maintaining the existing workforce in redeployment to new plants.

Supermax’s share price fell 4.5 sen to 99.5 sen on Thursday (May 18), giving a market capitalisation of RM2.69 billion. The stock has fallen 14.4% year to date.