KUALA LUMPUR (April 16): EP Manufacturing Bhd's (EPMB) shares climbed on Tuesday and marked their best day in 10 months after the Shah-Alam based auto parts maker signed an assembly deal with a Chinese carmaker.

EPMB rose as much as 12.8% to 75 sen, its highest since Jan 15. The stock was still up 9.02%, its biggest gain in a single day since June 9, 2023, at the closing bell after some 11.36 million shares changed hands. At 72.5 sen, EMPB was valued at RM159.7 million.

No institutional analysts cover the stock.

On Monday, EPMB said its wholly-owned unit PEPS-JV (Melaka) Sdn Bhd (PJVM) has signed an agreement with BAIC Motor Corp Ltd to assemble and manufacture BAIC’s authorised model vehicles in Malaysia.

BAIC is part of Beijing Automotive Group Co Ltd, a Fortune Global 500 company and one of China’s largest carmakers.

Under the 10-year agreement, EPMB said PJVM's responsibilities include assembling and manufacturing the vehicles in Malaysia, ensuring that the assembly plant has a capacity of at least 5,000 vehicles per year by Sept 1, and at least 10,000 vehicles per year by March 1 next year.

In January, PJVM was appointed as the contract vehicle assembler for the Malaysian unit of China’s Great Wall Motor Co Ltd (GWM), making it a key player in the assembly and production of selected GWM models in Malaysia for the next eight years. 

The company focuses on assembling and producing the Haval H6, a mid-size sports utility vehicle (SUV) model, and the Haval Jolion, a compact SUV model.

EPMB’s portfolio of products includes automotive modular assemblies, suspension parts, chassis parts, body parts, cross member and engine parts.

It is also involved in the manufacture of engineering plastic components and parts, such as fuel rail assemblies, rear spoilers, air ducts, and air fuel module automotive engines, according to the group’s 2022 annual report.

The group counts Honda, Toyota, Perodua, Mazda, and Proton among its customers.

On its financial front, EPMB’s net profit surged over 46 times to RM18.61 million for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2023 (FY2023) — against RM399,000 a year earlier — due to the group’s cost control efforts and gain of RM13.6 million from the disposal of Glenmarie properties

FY2023's earnings was also the highest for EPMB since 2014. Revenue for FY2023 rose 25.5% to RM648 million from RM516.33 million amid higher sales in automotive parts.

Read also:
EP Manufacturing inks deal with China's BAIC for vehicle assembly in Malaysia
EP Manufacturing bags eight-year vehicle assembly contract from China's Great Wall Motor