Malaysian carmaker Proton in red again

Malaysian carmaker Proton in red again

Agence France-Presse, Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia's troubled national carmaker Proton suffered a net loss
of 154.33 million ringgit (US$41 million) for the second quarter
to September from a profit of 203.38 million ringgit a year ago.

Proton attributed the loss to provisions totaling 160.7
million ringgit, mainly for its Italian motorcycle unit MV
Augusta.

It also posted a pretax loss of 158.83 million ringgit from a
profit of 203.38 million ringgit a year ago on the back of lower
revenue of 1.8 billion ringgit from 2.22 billion ringgit
previously.

Proton said that out of 160.7 million ringgit in provisions,
90 million ringgit was for MV Augusta and 40 million ringgit for
inventories.

The results for the quarter were also hit by higher components
costs, it said in a statement.

"The second quarter is beginning to see the bottoming of the
sales trend," Proton's chairman Mohamad Azlan Hashim said at a
news conference announcing the second quarter results.

Proton sold 12,000 units for the May-July period, 13,000 units
in August, 14,000 units in September and 22,000 units in October,
he said.

"Our push for the next several quarters is to defend Proton's
domestic market (share)," he added.

Proton in August said the company went into the red with a
12.35 million ringgit net loss in the three months to June, from
a profit of 166.47 million ringgit a year ago.

Proton also announced that it had Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohd
Tahir as its new managing director.

The post was left vacant when the contract of Mahaleel Tengku
Ariff was not renewed, effective Sept. 30.

Proton said that Syed Zainal, 43, is presently an executive
director of Perodua Auto Corp Sdn Bhd.

Proton used to sell six out of 10 new cars in Malaysia but
sales have been tumbling for the past few years as it feels the
bite of growing foreign competition as the government whittles
away protection.

From a market share of 60 percent in 2002, Proton saw a
decline to 48 percent in 2003 and then 44 percent in 2004.