KUALA LUMPUR, May 20 (Bernama) -- UMW Holdings Bhd's pre-tax profit for its first quarter ended March 31, 2010, rose 146 per cent to RM305.094 million from RM123.737 million in the same quarter last year.
The significant profit increase was due to higher sales volume and improved margins from a favourable model mix achieved by the automotive segment, said UMW in a statement Thursday.
As a result, the net profit for the first quarter of 2010 surged from the RM66.0 million registered in the same quarter of 2009 to RM132.9 million, it said.
UMW said the group revenue of RM3,033.2 million for the first quarter was 29.1 per cent higher than the RM2,349.8 million achieved in the preceding year's corresponding quarter.
The increase was due to the strong economic growth and improved consumer and business confidence which resulted in higher demand for its Toyota vehicles, industrial and heavy equipment as well as automotive parts, it said.
Total Toyota and Perodua vehicle sales of 70,550 units represented 47.9 per cent of the total industry volume of 147,415 units reported by the Malaysian Automotive Association for the first quarter of 2010.
The recent trade data indicated that economic growth for 2010 could be much stronger than expected, the group said.
All major sectors recorded robust expansion and both exports and imports had shown steady gains in the first quarter of 2010, a sign that the economy was on the path to a strong recovery, it said.
UMW president and group chief executive officer Datuk Abdul Halim Harun said the automotive segment was poised for a strong growth in 2010 based on a progressively stronger momentum of recovery since the second half of 2009.
"We are confident of achieving the 2010 sales target of our automotive segment, which aims to sell a total of 264,000 Toyota and Perodua cars in 2010, or 48 per cent of the forecast total industry volume of 550,000 cars," he said.
Both the equipment and manufacturing and engineering segments are expected to benefit from the strengthening domestic and external demand, supported by improving regional economic conditions, particularly in the Asian region where UMW has presence.
Abdul Halim said the oil and gas segment is expected to turn around and make positive contributions to group profits in the second half of the year when some of its greenfield investments begin operations and generate income.
Based on the current positive economic outlook, UMW is optimistic that the financial performance of the group may exceed its internal revenue and profit targets set for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2010.
-- BERNAMA
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