Bermaz Auto Berhad reported a higher Q2 2022 profit attributable to equity holders of the company of RM 26 million as compared to profit attributable to equity holders of the company of RM 24.8 million in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.
However, the group registered a lower revenue of RM483.8 million and a marginally lower pre-tax profit of RM33.5 million in the current quarter compared to revenue of RM599.8 million and pre-tax profit of RM33.9 million in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.
The Mazda car distributor saw its revenue decrease by RM116.0 million or 19.3% largely due to a reduction in sales volume from the domestic operations attributed to the lockdown during the National Recovery Plan where showrooms were only allowed to operate subject to strict compliances with certain SOPs. In line with the reduction in revenue, the Group’s pre-tax profit decreased slightly by RM0.4 million or 1.0% largely due to the initial operating losses from its newly started Peugeot operations.
Under the Employees’ Share Scheme Bermaz had to account for expense of RM0.5 million compared to RM0.8 million in the corresponding quarter of the preceding year.
Overall, the Group registered a lower revenue and comparable pre-tax profit of RM800 million and RM48.0 million as compared to a revenue and pre-tax profit of RM1.05 billion and RM47.0 million last year. Group revenue reduced by RM244.1 million or 23.3% largely due to lower sales volume, particularly during the first financial quarter. This was attributed to the domestic operations as a result of the lockdown under Phase 1 of the NRP where non-essential business activities such as showrooms were only allowed to operate under certain strict conditions.
Despite lower unit sales recorded for the domestic Mazda’s operations, the profit contribution from the domestic operations improved due to changes in its sales mix. The Group has also accounted for the expense relating to its Employees’ Share Scheme of about RM1.1 million in the period under review as compared to RM1.6 million in the
corresponding period.
As for the market condition, the Malaysian Automotive Association reported that the Total Industry Volume (“TIV”) in October 2021 had increased by 10.0% year-on-year to 63,489 units compared to 57,695 units in the corresponding period a year ago. Year-to-date TIV for October 2021 eased by 4.8% to 382,379 units from 401,714 units registered in the same period last year, mainly due to shortage of computer chips of certain makes and order cancellations in earlier months. Sales for October 2021 was 43.4% higher than September 2021 mainly due to full and longer business operations nationwide and companies began ramping up their production lines and delivery of vehicles to fulfil backlog orders.
