KUALA LUMPUR: Shares in Pos Malaysia Bhd fell in early trade Monday after reporting a wider net loss in the second quarter ended June 30, 2021 (2Q21).

       The postal service group fell 3.7%, or three sen to 78 sen at 9.17am. The counter has fallen more than 35% so far this year.

       Pos Malaysia’s net loss widened to RM121.84mil in 2Q21 from RM19.02mil in the same quarter a year ago.

       During the quarter in review, Pos Malaysia’s revenue slid to RM533.89mil from RM606.08mil in 2Q21.

       In the first half to June 30, 2021 (1HFY21), it reported a net loss of RM165.52mil on revenue of RM1.12bil.

       Kenanga Research said Pos Malaysia’s 1HFY21 net loss expanded to RM120.1mil compared to the house/consensus full-year net loss estimate of RM118.3mil and RM65.8mil, respectively.

       “We deemed the results to be below our expectation with larger-than-expected losses in the postal segment despite sustainable profit from courier business and unexpected recovery in the aviation segment.

       “Thus, our FY21 net loss estimate is doubled to RM226.5mil, but we maintain our FY22 net profit expectation on post-pandemic recovery,” Kenanga said.

       It added that a silver lining is the courier and logistics business returning to the black, with better sales and cost management for the aviation segment.

       The research house maintained its ‘market perform’ with unchanged target price of 80 sen.