KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 20): SAM Engineering & Equipment (M) Bhd (KL:SAM) posted a 6.88% increase in its net profit for the third quarter ended Dec 31, 2024 (3QFY2025) to RM31.34 million, from RM29.32 million a year earlier, on 5% higher revenue. 

The better profitability was also helped mainly by lower net finance costs and tax expense.

Net finance costs fell 47.3% to RM3.66 million in 3QFY20245, from RM6.94 million a year ago, while tax expense was down by 55.45% to RM4.65 million from RM10.43 million previously.

SAM Engineering registered RM406.87 million revenue during the quarter, compared with RM387.28 million in 3QFY2024, due to higher profit contribution from its aerospace segment.

For the nine months of FY2025 (9MFY2025), SAM Engineering’s net profit fell 19.58% to RM66.33 million compared with RM82.48 million in 9MFY2024, as revenue inched down by 1.19% to RM1.11 billion from RM1.12 billion previously, while cost of sales increased.

Moving forward, SAM Engineering said the economic outlook for the aerospace and semiconductor equipment industries continues to be clouded by the ongoing geopolitical tensions.

"While SEMI ([emiconductor Equipment and Materials International] anticipates growth, we believe significant growth will only materialise at higher fab utilisation rate. To prepare for future growth, we remain actively engaged with our customers on new product developments,” it said.

Quoting SEMI's forecasts, SAM Engineering believes that the global sales of semiconductor manufacturing equipment will continue its upward momentum, with equipment sales expected to grow to US$121 billion in 2025 and US$139 billion in 2026.

Shares of SAM Engineering closed down eight sen or 2.2% to RM3.57 on Thursday, valuing the group at RM2.42 billion.