Riverstone Holdings' net profit up 23.9%

MANUFACTURER of specialised cleanroom and healthcare gloves Riverstone Holdings posted a net profit of RM33.6  million (S$11.2 million)  for the second quarter, up 23.9 per cent a year ago.

Revenue ticked up marginally by 0.5 per cent to RM214.2 million, due to the strengthening ringgit against the US dollar.

Earnings per share was 4.53 sen for the quarter, up from 3.65 sen previously.

A dividend of 1.30 sen was declared for the financial year ended Dec 31 2018.

In its outlook, Riverstone Holdings noted: "The foreign currency fluctuations particularly in US dollars, volatile raw material prices, increase in overall production costs and competition from the other glove manufacturers remain challenging for the group."

Its executive chairman and CEO Wong Teek Son said: "Despite continued macroeconomic challenges such as foreign exchange rate volatility and fluctuations in raw material prices, we remain in growth mode. Internally, we are focused on improving operational efficiency, tightening cost controls and progressively introducing automation within our production processes."