DRB-Hicom has revealed its Q2 2021 and H1 2021 results and it shows improvements. In the three months till June 30, revenue went up by 30.8% year-on-year to RM2.62 billion. For the first half of the year, revenue rose 29.4% against the same period in 2020, to RM6.13 billion.
Losses before tax narrowed too. Q2 21 losses were RM279.53 million, while the pre-tax loss for H1 21 was RM243.22 million. This is a big improvement from the RM365.80 million and RM511.11 million losses in Q2 and H1 2020, respectively.
DRB-Hicom majors on the automotive sector and is linked with the fortunes of the industry. The conglomerate’s auto sector’s revenue for H1 21 rose 52% y-o-y to RM4.35 billion; this was largely due to sales by national automotive company Proton as well as other marques under its umbrella such as Honda, Mitsubishi, Volkswagen, Tata and Isuzu. The latter’s new third-gen D-Max is off to a great start.
Other contributors to the cause are manufacturing and engineering companies such as PHN Industry and Hicom-Teck See Manufacturing Malaysia. Q2 21 revenue came in at RM1.78 billion, up 68% year-on-year.
The Malaysian automotive industry has been badly affected by the lockdowns imposed to curb Covid-19. DRB says that the prolonged MCO is expected to impact full year sales as showrooms remain closed in some states despite the recent reopening of some economic sectors.
The company says that while its Hicom Automotive Complex in Pekan has obtained permission to operate as Pahang moved into Phase 2 of the National Recovery Plan (PPN), vendors and suppliers based in the Klang Valley remained closed, halting component supply.
Moving forward, DRB-Hicom notes that the Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA) has revised downwards its target total industry volume (TIV) for Malaysia by 12% this year, from 570,000 to 500,000 units. On a macro level, Bank Negara Malaysia has revised the full year GDP growth forecast to between 3% to 4%, lower than previously estimated.
On the brighter side, various policy support packages introduced by the government, alongside rapid progress of national vaccination programme, is “expected to provide sustenance towards growth recovery in the near future”.
The group notes that the government’s decision to extend sales tax exemption for passenger vehicles until December 31 is expected to lift overall demand for this year.
“For the remainder of 2021, the group is taking necessary steps to reshape its business to remain competitive in an unpredictable environment,” it said, adding that it “remains cautious of its financial performance” for the full year, given the heightened uncertainties over the full economic impact of the prolonged pandemic.
The automotive sector is the backbone of DRB-Hicom’s business. The other sectors that the group has a hand in are defence, aerospace, banking, services (Pos Malaysia is a main contributor here, H1 21 revenue down 9% to RM791.83 million) and property – these other subsidiaries will continue to focus on prudent cash management to stay afloat, the conglomerate says. DRB exited the retail property and hospitality business in December 2020.
The group recorded a profit before tax of RM540.1 million in 2020 on the back of RM13.2 billion revenue.
Rakyat are very confident and have great hopes for 18 months caring rule to continue forever!
This is private company. Let them be. Why so butthurt???
drb is just getting a free ride with proton. none of it is because of their input.
Things that they do have their input, like Pos malaysia is being driven to the ground.
In any product, the sales is most important and DRB are in charge of Proton sales, so they are most definitely not free riding but rather riding the tsunami wave of optimism with Proton.
Sales and service to be prices. See how the spare parts management and how they handle customers/delaers complaints. Observe the period that DRB took Proton over Khazanah and brought Proton rock bottom. Even the quality of Honda assembling plant has deteriorated. Pos Malaysia is going down the hill as well thanks to DRB-HICOM. DRB-HICOM has very strong cable that bought GLCs from government and then destroy them slowly until need government help again to give life supply like Proton. DRB-HICOM just simply incompetent and only good in lobbying the GLCs. If Khazanah didn’t sell Proton off, Khazanah would have earning very healthy profit and continue most of Proton projects.
Parts shortage issue is not just a DRB thing but a global phenomena. Coupled with the lengthy stoppages due to lockdown, most of these parts would go into new cars first. Go to forums, most Honda car problems are due to parts quality and not from assembly. You cannot be blaming airbag problem to DRB kan?
Maybe you didn’t read the news regarding Proton service center don’t even have engine oil to do minor services. Even proton edar admitted the issue. I do understand regarding the parts issue due to the lockdown but for proton case has been on going problems…
You think DRB-Hicom can sell products? Think again… Think way before Geely bought almost of Proton share and why DRB-Hicom can’t sell during that time because they don’t know how to do business.
Geely revamp and uplifted proton sales presentation & image, yes, but it is still DRB team that are closing the sales with customers and doing the various promos & incentives to attract more.
Actually, Geely and DRB HICOM are riding the national project scheme. Everybody knows about this. Off-course Geely cars are better than Proton cars previously. I don’t know if without national car status.