Santak Holdings Limited provided group earnings guidance for the six months period ended 31 December 2023. Following a preliminary assessment of the financial results for six months period ended 31 December 2023 (first half of 2024), the Group is expected to report higher revenue compared to the revenue in the previous corresponding period (first half of 2023). The increase in revenue was due to substantially higher contributions from the Group's precision engineering division arising mainly from significantly higher demand from the data storage sector compared to first half of 2023. On the other hand, the sales of the trading and distribution division was slightly lower compared to first half of 2023. However, the Group is expected to report a substantially higher loss before tax for first half of 2024 versus the loss before tax in first half of 2023 mainly as a result of the Group registering
a negative gross margin in first half of 2024 compared to a gross profit in first half of 2023. This was mainly due to the substantially lower production activities level and machines utilization rate in first half of 2024 arising from significantly lower forward sale orders received at the end of first half of 2024 for the second half ending 30 June 2024 from the Group's major customer (approximately 35% of Group sale in first half of 2024) which had
deferred delivery of its remaining purchase order to the first half of fiscal year 2025. In addition, the Group's administrative expenses was also higher in first half of 2024 compared to the prior corresponding period.