KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 29): Frontken Corp Bhd (KL:FRONTKN) net profit surged 32% in its latest quarter ended September, as strong demand for its products drove revenue and utilisation higher at its Taiwan facility.

The group, which is involved in the provision of services for semiconductor industries, saw a net profit of RM35.32 million in the third quarter of its financial year ending Dec 31, 2024 (3QFY2024), its best ever, up from RM26.75 million a year ago.

Quarterly revenue also rose 8.08% to a record RM144.31 million, from RM133.52 million in 3QFY2023.

Also supporting profit was a better product mix, Frontken said. Earnings per share rose to 2.24 sen in the quarter, from 1.7 sen a year ago. No dividend was declared for the quarter.

“The global semiconductor market continued to grow substantially in August, hitting its highest-ever sales total for the month of August, and month-to-month sales increased for the fifth consecutive month.

“To that end, we are seeing much better utilisation of our second facility in Taiwan with the increasing demand from our customers leading us to be cautiously optimistic that this growing trend will continue throughout the remainder of this year,” the group said.

The strong performance lifted 9MFY2024 profit to RM98.71 million or 6.27 sen per share, up 20% from RM82.24 million or 5.23 sen per share. Cumulative revenue rose 13.86% to RM419.75 million from RM368.66 million.

“We believe that the persistent demand of chips will be positive for our semiconductor business in years to come where continuing high demand for the same will necessitate more chip research, design and manufacturing in the years ahead,” Frontken added.

Frontken shares rose two sen or 0.52% to RM3.83 at noon break, giving it a market capitalisation of RM6.09 billion. The counter is up 18.2% this year.