KUALA LUMPUR: DRB-Hicom Bhd staged a major turnaround in its operations as it posted its first full-year operating profit in three years in FY ended March31, 2019 and expects to deliver a satisfactory performance for FY20.

In its announcement to Bursa Malaysia on Thursday, its FY19 operating profit was RM342mil, a stark contrast against an operating loss of RM817mil – excluding the RM1.1bil research and development (R&D) grant in FY18. 

“The group’s full year profit before tax (PBT)  came in at RM281.60mil against RM283.8mil in the same period last year,” it said.

Its FY19 revenue was slightly lower at RM12.47bil compared with RM12.25bil a year ago. 

It said its automotive sector revenue was at RM7.36bil as sales of Proton cars as well as models from other marques under the group rose.

“Proton’s sales was boosted in the final quarter of the financial year following the launch of its first-ever sports utility vehicle (SUV), the X70 December 2018,” it said. 

DRB-Hicom said the SUV was the “undisputed best-selling SUV in Malaysia for 2019”, with 30,000 orders received at more than 14,000 have been delivered. 

“With the updated models of the Iriz, Persona and Exora already in the market, Proton should see improved sales in 2019,” it said.

DRB-Hicom's services sector, despite the pressures on postal services as a group, the sector’s RM4.58b revenue in the year was still higher compared to the previous financial year. 

“This was boosted by increased revenue from banking and waste management businesses,” it said.

However, the property sector however recorded lower revenue of RM540mil compared with RM863mil a year ago as this sector was impacted by lower revenue from
on-going construction projects.

In the fourth quarter, its revenue rose by 16.4% to RM3.47bil from RM2.98bil due to the better performance of the automotive companies particularly the sale of X70 SUV by Proton.

It posted net profit of RM127.86mil compared with net loss of RM59.40mil a year ago. Earnings per share were 6.61 sen compared with loss per share of 3.07 sen.

It registered pre-tax profit of RM328.79mil compared with pre-tax loss of RM241.02mil a year ago.