Venture Q1 net profit rises 8.3% to S$65.3m

V03 's net profit for the first quarter improved 8.3 per cent to S$65.3 million from S$60.3 million in the previous year, the company said on Friday.

The improvement came despite "tepid growth in revenue" of 2 per cent to S$686.7 million.

The electronics manufacturing services firm attributed the slow revenue growth to global parts and components shortages, and said it has set up working groups to address the supply challenges.

Earnings per share was 22.4 Singapore cents per share, up from 20.8 cents in Q1 2020. Net cash position increased to S$989.6 million as at March 31 from S$928.7 million as at Dec 31, 2020, and net asset value per share grew to S$9.19 from S$8.92 on improved profitability.

Venture said that customer orders are strong across its segments, with several sophisticated, leading-edge products seeing good demand. It plans to launch new products to meet increasing needs for electronic test equipment, optical and photonics networking solutions and 5G infrastructure development.

Ongoing supply disruptions for parts and components are the main obstacle to fulfilling the orders. The working groups that Venture has set up will communicate with the operations teams to strategise solutions and implement joint initiatives with various external stakeholders such as customers and partners, suppliers and component manufacturers to secure the needed parts and components.

The group expects a quarter-on-quarter improvement in Q2 2021 for a stronger H1 2021 performance compared to the previous year.

Venture shares closed at S$20.15 on Friday, down S$0.26 or 1.3 per cent.