PETALING JAYA: Apex Healthcare Bhd
expects the healthcare industry to see continued growth this year despite possible global economic challenges.
The group said it would focus on growing its domestic market share, exploring new overseas markets, research and development activities and obtaining new goods and agency alliances to strengthen its growth prospects.
Chairman and chief executive officer Kee Kirk Chin said in a statement the healthcare group was also looking to expand its pharmaceutical manufacturing capacity and capability for liquid products at its recently acquired industrial site in Melaka.
He said this would enable the group to manufacture a range of new products while meeting future demand of key cough and cold syrups.
Apex posted a lower net profit of RM20.06mil for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2023 (4Q23), compared with RM34.84mil in 4Q22, despite an 8.85% increase in revenue to RM234mil from RM220.49mil.
For the full year, net profit jumped almost four-fold to RM397.99mil in 2023 from RM100.98mil in 2022, while revenue rose 6.7% to RM936.17mil from RM877.74mil.
Apex has declared a single-tier dividend of 2.5 sen per share and a special single-tier dividend of 20.0 sen per share for 2023.
