This was its lowest quarterly profit in three years as revenue dropped 43.6% to RM528.7 million from RM937.5 million.
For the full year, net profit fell 55% to RM155.9 million from RM345.6 million, as revenue dropped nearly 30% to RM2.62 billion from RM3.9 billion.
Bermaz, which mainly assembles Mazda and Kia vehicles, attributed the steep drop in profit largely to China-made vehicles flooding into the local market.
“The continuous influx of Chinese vehicles had also impacted the sales of other marques in the country,” it said in a bourse filing yesterday.
The automotive company’s poor results disappointed investors and analysts alike, leading to a plunge in its share price today.
The stock fell as much as 11.3% or 11 sen to 82 sen, its lowest level since late 2020. At this price, the company has a market capitalisation of RM962 million.
Since the end of 2024, Bermaz has been on a downtrend as rising popularity of Chinese car brands among Malaysians has eroded sales of its Japanese-made Mazda and Korean-made Kia vehicles.
Year to date, its shares have slumped 48%, wiping out half of the company’s value.
Hong Leong Investment Bank downgraded the stock to “sell”, stating competition in Malaysia and the Philippines is expected to intensify with the influx of Chinese manufacturers “offering feature-rich models at competitive prices”.
Bermaz has sought to mitigate the impact of Chinese brands in the domestic market by offering Chinese marques, having secured the distribution rights to Xpeng and Deepal cars, which are mainly electric vehicles.
In a note, Apex Securities said sales of XPeng vehicles, while appearing promising, have yet to contribute significantly to offset the slide in Mazda and Kia sales.
The research house downgraded Bermaz to “hold” from “buy”, highlighting the “intense competition” in the industry and weaker sales across key locally assembled models.
The outlook remains murky with Bermaz anticipating its performance to be challenging for the financial year ending April 30, 2026, its filing said.
Total vehicle sales in Malaysia for the first four months dropped 5.4% to 248,730 units from 263,050 units in the same period last year, according to Malaysian Automotive Association data.