HARTALEGA ... Sept09

HARTALEGA HOLDINGS' Net Profit for 1QE Jun 2009 doubled to RM26.3m rom RM12.8m a year ago. In the Company's filing - Aug 14, 2009, it said earnings were boosted by more efficient production process and lower price of raw material for both synthetic and natural latex.

Revenue rose 42.7% to RM125.3m from RM37.5m. PBT jumped 120.9% to RM32.7m from RM14.8m. EPS was 10.88 sen versus 5.32 sen.

QOQ, the Group's sales revenue increased by 42.7% and PBT increased by 120.9%. " .... The significant achievement in revenue and PBT is in line with the Group's continuous expansion in production capacity, higher nitrile sales mix, and improvement in production process, lower synthetic and natural latex price and favourable exchange rate ...." it said.

PROSPECTS
On the prospects, it said the products were sold to the health care Industry. Glove consumption is inelastic in the medical environment because the usage of glove is mandatory for disease control.

" .... Our nitrile synthetic glove was well accepted by the end users due to it high quality and elastic properties that mimic that of a natural rubber glove. Our protein free and competitively priced nitrile glove has made it more affordable for the acute health care industry to continue switching from the natural rubber to our synthetic nitrile glove to avoid the protein allergy problem ...." it said.