KUALA LUMPUR: Steel pipe maker Prestar Resources Bhd said strong demand, coupled with higher prices in April and May boosted its earnings in the second quarter, but growth was stunted by the lockdown in June.

       The company reported a net profit of RM19.2mil in the three-month ended June 30 compared with a loss of RM2.9mil made a year ago.

       Revenue surged to RM124.5mil from RM53.3mil previously.

       “The increase in profit and revenue were mainly due to better sales margin resulting from higher demand on the products and services of all business segments of the Group as well as the continued rising trend of the steel price," managing director Datuk Toh Yew Peng said in a statement today.

       “However, the robust growth was hampered when total lockdown - Full MCO was imposed since June 1,” he added.

       With the local iron and steel industry still affected by the Covid-19 restrictions, Toh expects the demand and supply situation in the industry to remain challenging.

       “This has also put pressure to the steel price, which is expected to continue on an upward trend. Locally, iron and steel sector are still not in full operation due to lockdown measures imposed thus affecting the demand and supply of steel products," he said.

       “The Board expects this trend may continue for the rest of this financial year and adopt a cautious and pragmatic approach to meet its customers demand as well as ensuring efficient management of its supply chain and working capital," he added.

       Meanwhile, Prestar is extending its collaboration with Murata Machinery, Ltd (Japan) for the supply of the automated storage and retrieval system (ASRS) racking system.

       It said Murata is one of the largest designers and manufacturers of material handling systems in Japan.

       On Aug 17, its unit Prestar Storage System Sdn Bhd had signed a supplemental manufacturing partnership agreement with Murata’s logistic and automation division to include another nine of the latter’s subsidiaries.

       The subsidiaries are in the US, China Europe, India, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, Taiwan and Hong Kong.