KUALA LUMPUR (May 14): Automated test equipment company Aemulus Holdings Bhd (KL:AEMULUS) remained in the red for its sixth straight quarter even as net losses narrowed in the second quarter from a year earlier on lower expenses and higher revenue.

Net loss for the three months ended March 31, 2024, was RM2.04 million, or 0.31 sen per share, compared to RM6.61 million, or 0.70 sen per share, in 2QFY2023, its exchange filing on Tuesday (May 14) showed. Revenue surged 76% year-on-year to RM9.32 million from RM5.29 million thanks to higher demand.

Moving forward, Aemulus said that the company is “preparing for growth” in the coming quarters amid “mixed signals” from customers for the second half of this year and the moderate recovery in the semiconductor industry.

Sales in China could slow down in the next quarter from a 23% growth in revenue, mainly due to typical business and inventory cycle, Aemulus flagged. Still, the company expects to make progress in introducing new products into the enterprise storage market.

“This shall broaden our range of offerings and cushion negative impacts caused by a specific market,” Aemulus said.

Elsewhere, the company faces delays in several orders and deliveries in part due to the “significant” drop in demand by one of the major electric vehicle producers. “We expect the delay to continue” in the April-Jun quarter, Aemulus warned.

Meanwhile, revenue from another segment, the medical electronics market, now contributes more than 10% of the revenue and “we expect to see sustainable contributions” in the third quarter, the company added.

For the first half of FY2024, Aemulus’ net loss narrowed to RM5.61 million as compared to RM9.46 million in the same period of FY2023, while revenue rose 6.8% to RM16.16 million from RM15.14 million a year earlier.

Shares of Aemulus closed up 1.5 sen, or 4.29%, to 36.5 sen on Tuesday, valuing the company at RM244.59 million.