[ad_1]
KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 23): Rubber glove maker Careplus Group Bhd turned black with a net profit of RM42.86 million for the third quarter ended Sept. 30, 2020, from a net loss of RM4. 94 million ringgit a year ago.
In a bag presentation, the group attributed the change to higher glove sales, higher utilization rate, and higher sales prices as a result of increased demand due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The profit attributable to the owners also includes the 50% share of the profits obtained from the joint venture between Careplus M Sdn Bhd and Ansell Services (Asia) Sdn Bhd.
Careplus said that quarterly revenue increased 45.49% year-on-year to RM122.71 million from RM84.34 million, due to higher sales price and better production capacity.
During the nine months ending September 30, the group also returned to negative figures with a net profit of RM80.21 million, up from a net loss of RM6.53 million in the corresponding prior period.
Nine-month revenue increased 35.07% to RM346.3 million, from RM256.39 million previously.
“Retained earnings have increased significantly as a result of higher sales volume, average selling price and better production efficiency.
“It included a one-time profit of RM 15.4 million from the sale of 50% of the equity in Careplus for the joint venture with Ansell in the second quarter,” said Careplus.
The group said it aims to install four new lines by the end of this year, another 15 new lines by mid-2021, with an additional nine lines in the planning stage to be completed by the end of 2021.
The company now has 29 lines with an annual capacity of 4.62 billion pieces of gloves. As a result, the group will have 57 production lines with an annual capacity of 10.5 billion pieces of medical and surgical gloves by the end of 2021.
Careplus will also increase surgical glove packaging facilities from 72 million pairs to 288 million pairs per year by the end of 2021.
“We will invest RM10 million to automate our new lines to reduce our dependence on production workers. At the same time, we will be renovating our newly purchased budget hotel into a workers’ hostel (pending approval by the authorities) to attract more local workers to join us.
“Barring unforeseen circumstances, we are confident that we will be able to get all production up and running as planned,” he said.
Shares of Careplus fell 12 sen or 3.08% to 3.78 yuan today, valuing the group at 2.04 billion ringgit. So far this year, the meter has increased by 2262.5% from 16 sen.
[ad_2]
