KUALA LUMPUR: VSTECS Bhd's net profit increased 54 per cent year-on-year (YoY) to RM19.82 million for the fourth quarter (Q4) ended December 31, 2021, from RM12.87 million recorded previously.
In an exchange filing yesterday, the information and communications technology (ICT) company said this was attributed to contribution across all business segments including ICT distribution and ICT services divisions.
Its Q4 revenue grew 15.7 per cent YoY to RM763.40 million from RM659.63 million on the back of higher sales and better product mix as IT retailers have more flexibilities to operate their business from the lockdown standard operating procedures (SOP) and higher project transactions from the public sectors.
For the cumulative financial year ended December 31, 2021 (FY21), VSTECS' net profit surged 49.5 per cent to RM54.99 million from RM36.78 million, while revenue increased 30 per cent to RM2.62 billion from RM2.02 billion.
VSTECS said International Data Corporation (IDC) projected a growth rate of 1.2 per cent in 2022 on ICT products compared with a growth of 7.1 per cent last year.
It added the previous shortages in consumer products that caused long shipments delays for the last two years had cut into delivery lead time.
"While such shortages have abated, the high demand of notebook and tablet is also slowly reverting back to the normal volume, back to the pre-pandemic days."
VSTECS said many high-end enterprise products were facing acute component shortages since Q4 last year.
"The long shipment delays are impacting our enterprise project deployments.
"Both public sector and commercial enterprises are pushing for digital transformation to remain relevant and for better resiliency and business continuity."
On the positive side, it said demand for cloud computing and cybersecurity could surge from the pandemic aftermath.
"We are well-positioned to benefit from such opportunities. With the softer demand for consumer products and deployment delays in enterprise projects, we are cautious on the outlook for FY22."
