PETALING JAYA: Despite the general market weakness, rubber hose manufacturer Wellcall Holdings Bhd has seen its shares rise in the last two months.

       At its close of RM1.31, up one sen, last Friday, the counter had gained about 28% since the end of November 2021 on expectations of improving prospects.

       During the same period, the benchmark FBM KLCI managed to gain by a mere 0.8%.

       According to Wellcall group managing director Huang Sha, the company is expected to see robust growth for the financial year ending Sept 30, 2022 (FY22) driven by continuous demand from its customers.

       “The group is well positioned to see improved performance in FY22,” he said, noting that the group’s customers would drive continued growth, in its recently published Annual Report for FY21.

       “Barring any unforeseen circumstances due to the prolonged Covid-19 crisis, the board believes that the momentum heading into the forthcoming FY22 will be commendable especially with the continuous demand from our customers and in line with the industrial rubber hose market forecasts,” he explained.

       Huang pointed out that demand for industrial rubber hoses would continue to see a gradual recovery from both emerging and developed economies.

       However, he acknowledged that the shortage of workers, particularly since the freezing in foreign worker recruitment by the Malaysian government, was a challenge for the company.

       “In spite of that, we have managed to source local workers to support the production lines to fulfil and meet delivery orders,” Huang said.

       He noted that the group would continue to take prudent measures to mitigate business risks and strengthen internal controls, among others, to sustain its operations during this prolonged pandemic period.

       “In the near term, the group expects raw material prices and freight costs to continue to be volatile due to the disruption of supply chains around the world,” he said, adding that the volatility of the US dollar exchange rate could also impact the group’s profitability.Wellcall announced a dividend of seven sen per share for FY21, higher than the 4.95 sen per share it announced in FY20.

       For the year in review, Wellcall’s net profit swelled by 16.3% to RM34.16mil from RM29.36mil in FY20, on the back of a 16% jump in revenue to RM157.02mil for FY21 from RM134.92mil in FY20.

       The group said it experienced a 19% growth from its export market compared to a 9% decline in the local market this year.

       The overall improvement in revenue was mainly due to the increase in revenue growth from the export market despite continuous slowdown in the local market, it said.

       CGS-CIMB Research retained its “add’’ call on Wellcall with a target price of RM1.36 per share.

       The brokerage favoured the stock because of the defensive demand for industrial hoses (widely applicable globally in various industries) in the long run, the company’s strong balance sheet (net cash of RM61.6mil at end-fourth quarter 2021) and an attractive forecast dividend yield of 5.1%-6.3% for FY22-FY24.