The recently concluded April-June reporting season has strengthened analysts' view that better times are just around the corner although most Malaysian top firms registered lower profits.The analysts believe that corporate earnings are staging a recovery, after hitting bottom between October last year and March this year.
A look at the top 10 companies showed that six posted lower net profit during the recent quarter compared to a year ago.
However, compared to the first quarter, it was an improvement. In the January-March period, nine out of 10 posted lower quarterly net profit.
"I think most companies hit bottom during the fourth quarter of last year. It appears that companies' earnings are recovering.
"We are expecting a better second half as far as earnings are concerned. However, overall earnings for the year are still likely to be lower than last year's," OSK Research Sdn Bhd head of research Chris Eng said when contacted.
There were several highlights, including Malayan Banking Bhd's fourth quarter net loss due to provisioning, Axiata Group Bhd's best quarterly performance and Malaysian Airline System Bhd's worse-than-expected operating loss."The plantation sector was a disappointment," Aberdeen Asset Management Sdn Bhd managing director Gerald Ambrose said.
Companies in the steel, automotive and telecommunications industry should benefit from a better economy in the second half of the year, analysts said.
The Malaysian economy contracted at a slower rate of 3.9 per cent in the second quarter compared with -6.2 per cent in the first.
Bank Negara Malaysia governor and chairman Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz said the smaller contraction was due mainly to positive growth in consumer and government spending.
"Next year, companies are expected to do better. We are positive on the oil and gas, automotive, steel and construction sectors for 2010," said Eng.
No comments:
Post a Comment