PETALING JAYA: Four out of five business segments of Ancom Nylex Bhd reported either a wider loss or reduced profits in the fourth quarter of financial year 2024 (4Q24), leading the integrated chemicals maker to post a marginal growth in earnings.
Ancom Nylex’s net profit for the March to May 2024 period amounted to RM18.44mil or earnings per share of 1.94 sen, rising by 1.4% year-on-year (y-o-y) as its industrial chemicals, logistics and polymer divisions posted lower segmental profit amidst higher impairment of trade receivables made in the quarter.
However, stronger earnings in the previous two quarters lifted Ancom Nylex’s full-year net profit for financial year 2024 (FY24) by over 8% y-o-y to a new record RM81.5mil.
Industrial chemicals is the biggest revenue generator for Ancom Nylex.
The investment holding and others division, which also includes information technology, media and electrical businesses, meanwhile reported a bigger loss in 4Q24.
The agricultural chemicals division saw increased profits due to higher revenue and overall improvement in profit margins.
In terms of its top line, Ancom Nylex recorded a 1.8% y-o-y increase in revenue to RM486.96mil in 4Q24.
No dividend was declared for the quarter.
Its FY24 revenue declined by 2.3% y-o-y to RM2bil.
Looking ahead, Ancom Nylex said global geopolitical uncertainty, the Middle East conflict and the increased shipping costs, among others, might affect its businesses for FY25.
Managing director and group chief executive officer Lee Cheun Wei while the company anticipates market challenges to persist in FY25, it continues to be upbeat on its growth prospects.
“For our agrichem segment, we are charting good progress for our new active ingredient. While the production trial remains ongoing, we have delivered samples to our clients for their in-house quality checks,” he said.
It planned to start commercial production of the new product, mainly using the intermediate produced in-house to circumvent supply chain disruptions previously encountered when importing the intermediate inputs, he noted in a statement yesterday.
The group expects demand from Latin and North American markets for its core active ingredient-related products where it is seeking to expand its proprietary product offerings to larger-hectare crops.
“We are actively pursuing label registration and have completed three trials on larger-hectare crops with promising results. We have recently secured a long-term contract with a North American customer for the supply of a key product,” Lee added.