PETALING JAYA: ARB Bhd’s net profit surged four-fold in the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2021, driven by revenue growth in the enterprise resource planning (ERP) and Internet of Things (IoT) segments.

       In addition, its bottomline was also boosted by the increase of negative goodwill of RM21.2mil, which arose from the acquisition of a subsidiary.

       ARB told the stock exchange yesterday that its net profit was recorded at RM33.59mil, as compared to RM8.4mil in the previous corresponding quarter.

       Revenue, on the other hand, rose 32.63% year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM77.33mil.

       Earnings per share in the quarter was at 5.52 sen. No dividend was declared for the quarter.

       Cumulatively, for the first nine months of financial year 2021, ARB posted a net profit of RM56.69mil.

       This marked a more than two-fold increase from RM23.72mil previously.

       The group’s revenue rose 18.08% y-o-y to RM173.58mil.“The higher revenue was mainly due to the contribution from the ERP and IoT segments of RM120.3mil and RM53.3mil, respectively.

       “The higher profit before tax was mainly due to the negative goodwill of RM33.9mil arising from the acquisition of subsidiaries,” it said.

       Looking ahead, ARB expects the ERP and IoT segments to contribute “impressive future earnings” for the group.