[Gen-AI Analysis] APM Automotive Holdings Berhad Business Report up until FY ended Dec. 2010 - MarkLines Automotive Information & Gen-AI Platform

APM Automotive Holdings Berhad Business Report up until FY ended Dec. 2010

Business Highlights

Financial Overview

(in million RM)

	FY2010	FY2009	Rate of change(%)	Factors
Overall
Sales	1,178	918	28.3	-
Operating profit	184	100	84.0	-

Business Overview

Suspension Division
-Sales amounted to RM 219.7 m (FY2009: RM 206.9m) which were up 6.3%. This division contributed approximately 14% to the Group's gross revenue in 2010.
-Pretax profit for the year fell by 3.9% to RM 24.7m (FY2009: RM 25.7m) due to higher expenses incurred for the shifting and the realignment of plant facilities to improve efficiencies.

Interior & Plastic Division
-Sales rose by 40.9% to RM 713.2m (FY2009: RM 506.3m).

-Pretax profit for the year rose by 117.3% to RM 104.1m (FY2009: RM 47.9m) as a result of restructuring and consolidation efforts.

Electrical & Heat Exchange Division
-Sales rose by 25.5% to RM 266.2m (FY2009: RM 212.1m).
-Pretax profit for the year rose by 289.6% to RM 26.1m (FY2009: RM 6.7m) mainly due to lower overhead costs as a result of higher output and partly due to the lower imported costs as a result of the strengthening of the Ringgit.

Operations outside Malaysia
-Sales rose by 45.7% to RM 160.0m (FY2009: RM 109.8m).
-The significant increase was due mainly to strong vehicle sales in the growing economy of Indonesia, which boosted the Group's sales to OEM customers such as Nissan, Isuzu, Suzuki and Mitsubishi.

<Indonesia>
-The Group has three joint ventures manufacturing and distributing seats, interior parts and coil springs.
-The seatings and interior businesses had benefited directly from the surge in the demand for components and parts due to higher vehicle sales.

<Vietnam>
-Pretax loss for the year amounted to RM 32.9m (FY2009: Profit RM 1.4m)
-Vehicle sales dropped 6.0 percent year-on-year in Vietnam, which has not recovered fully from the 2009 economic crisis. The resulting decline in sales as well as higher overheads for new plants led to the loss.

<Australia>
-The Group's business in Australia suffered a 10.9 percent decline in revenue and a 29.5 percent drop in pretax operating profit because of stiff competition from both imports and locally made products.

New Company

-In 2010, the Company established APM Engineering & Research Sdn Bhd, which provides engineering design and development services to companies with in the Group. The Group thereby intends to transform from a production-oriented company to a comprehensive auto parts supplier with advanced design and development functions.

Restructuring

-In March 2010, the Company dissolved APM Components (USA) Inc., its wholly owned subsidiary that has been inactive since 2007. As there was no new business plan for this corporation, the Group decided on the dissolution to save on administrative expenses.

R&D

R&D Expenditure

(in million RM)

	FY2010	FY2009
Overall	2.2	2.1

R&D Structure

-APM Engineering & Research Sdn Bhd provides engineering design and development services to companies with in the Group.
-The Company is collaborating with Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia on research and development activities. It is expected to invest approximately US $3.0 million on software, hardware, testing and prototyping, excluding manpower costs, over a 3-year period.

Technological Alliance

Product	Company
Coil springs	NHK Spring
Leaf springs	Horikiri
Electrical parts	Mitsubishi Electric
Electrical parts	Mikuni
Air-Conditioning system	Valeo
Radiators	Calsonic Kansei
Seats	Tachi-S
Plastic parts	Fuji seat

Investment Activities

Investment in Malaysia

Suspension Division
-The Company completed the construction of new factory building in Port Klang, which is capable of producing an additional 900 tons of parabolic springs per month. Investment in this project totaled RM 40.8 million.

Investment outside Malaysia

<Vietnam>
-The Company has completed the construction of its new plant and the setting up of the interior, seating and air-conditioning facilities. It has successfully secured and already commenced its first supply of seats to one of its OEM customers.