Proton Posts Rm338 Million Group Loss In Financial Year 08/09

Proton Holdings Bhd today announced a group pre-tax loss of RM338 million for its financial year ended March 31, 2009, from a pre-tax profit of RM144 million in 2008, mainly due to an exceptional impairment of property, plant and equipment (PPE) and inventory write-down.

Proton's chairman Datuk Mohd Nadzmi Mohd Salleh said the group's performance was reflective of the current global economic conditions.

The softening of the automotive industry arising from the global financial crisis had also adversely affected the performance of the group in the second half of the financial year, he said.

"The main reason for the group's loss was due to Proton's decision for the impairment of PPE and inventory write-down for certain models impacted by volume contraction," Nadzmi said.

"Additionally, the results for the second half of the financial year have also been adversely affected by the accelerated amortisation of certain dies and jigs as well as the increased costs of components and raw materials arising from higher foreign currency exchange rates, particularly the Japanese yen and US dollar," he said.

Proton's group total revenue, however, improved by RM864.98 million to RM6.49 billion in FY2008/09 compared to RM5.62 billion in FY2007/08.

The group sold a total of 156,845 units of cars in FY2008/9 compared to 139,942 units last year, Nadzmi said.

via bernama

Posted in: Proton