ACE Market-listed Artroniq Bhd (formerly Plastrade Technology Bhd) has returned to the black in its 2Q FY2022 ended June 30, 2022 with a net profit of RM327,000 from a net loss of RM205,000 a year earlier.
The return to profitability was mainly due to the higher gross margin for the current quarter under review.
However, the group saw its revenue declined by 45.1% to RM33.59 mil during the 2Q FY2022 period from RM61.21 mil recorded in 2Q FY2021.
This was mainly due to the lower revenue from the local and Asia markets for its ICT products business segment. This comes about as the group’s manufacturing business of resin compounds for wire and cable and resin compounds for other industries has ceased operations on Sept 22, 2020.
For the 1H FY2022 period, however, Artroniq incurred a net loss of RM228,000 against a net earning of RM4.8 mil a year ago while its revenue dwindled 6.4% to RM96.32 mil (1H FY2021: RM102.95 mil).
“It has been a challenging business environment for the group even as we faced with multiple headwinds on the global economy,” commented Artroniq’s managing director and CEO Chin Yew Thong.
“The higher-than-expected inflation, especially in the US and major European economies, has led to a global monetary tightening.”
Meanwhile, Chin observed that China has also seen a sharp slowdown amidst the lockdowns in some major cities to contain the spread of COVID-19 infections.
“As a group, we continued to review, revisit and realign our next business strategies to navigate these economic uncertainties,” he strategised.
“Having returned to the black in 2Q FY2022, we will continue to improve our operational efficiency and expand our income.”
In a separate filing with Bursa Malaysia, on Friday (Aug 19), Artroniq announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Artronix Sdn Bhd (ATX) has inked a distribution agreement with Even Systems Co Ltd for the appointment of ATX as a non-exclusive distributor to market products manufactured by Even Systems.
Even Systems and its US-based subsidiary Pioneer Solution Inc design and manufacture a complete line of industry-specific all-in-one computers, touch screen monitors, kiosks and tablets.
The market-based solutions of Even Systems have been deployed in retail, hospitality, factory automation, gaming and healthcare environments.
On the distribution agreement, Chin contended that Even Systems have built an exceptional reputation with their customers and solution partners for superior flexibility and responsiveness to customer needs.
“This includes the short time leads, long product life cycles, easy customisation and quick turnaround time that reflect our capabilities to meet their global standards,” he pointed out.
“The distribution agreement is expected to help to create additional ancillary income to ATX and Artroniq.”
At 12.21pm, Artroniq was up 1 sen ot 2.2% to 46.5 sen with 2.21 million shares traded, thus valuing the company at RM148 mil. – Aug 22, 2022
