UG Healthcare hits record net profit of $13.4m in FY20

The company is set to pay 0.714 cents dividend per ordinary share.

Malaysian disposable gloves manufacturer UG Healthcare has achieved a record-hitting revenue and net profit of $144.2m (US$104.89m) and $13.4m (US$9.75m), respectively for the fiscal year 2020, the company said in a press release. The significant increase is attributed to the increase in the volume of glove products produced and sold with contribution from new production lines as well as the increase in the selling prices amidst the pandemic.

The company is slated to offer a first and final (tax-exempted) dividend of 0.714 cents per ordinary share for the fiscal year, or almost triple from the 0.259 cents dividend in FY19.

Revenue for latex examination gloves, nitrile examination gloves and other ancillary products increased by 58%, 55.8% and 60.7% respectively in FY2020 compared to a year ago.

Other income jumped from $0.2m in FY19 to $0.4m in FY20 on the back of higher interest income. Total operating expenses also rose 17.5% from $15.1m last year to $17.7m.

In line with the increase in revenue, finance costs also soared by 22.7% from $1.6m in FY19 to $2m in FY20 mainly due to the increased utilisation of trade facilities, according to UG Healthcare.

Share of profits from associates increased by 62.6% to $1.2m compared to $0.7m in the previous year due to higher profits reported by its German and US associates. After taking into account the tax expenses and minority interests, the group’s net profit attributable to shareholders rose from $2.5m in FY19 to $13.4m in FY20.

The group’s net asset value increased to $52.2m as at 30 June, as compared with $42.3m as at 30 June 2019. Correspondingly, net asset value per share increased from 22.43 cents as at 30 June 2019 to 27.68 cents as at 30 June 2020.

UG Healthcare shared that it is accelerating its production capacity by another 1.2 billion pieces per annum. This will bring their installed production capacity to 4.6 billion pieces per annum by the end-June or September 2021.

The group said that it has completed major modifications and upgrades of select existing production lines in early May and has been operating at its current optimum capacity of 2.9 billion pieces of gloves per annum.