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Petaling Jaya, 31 January 2005 - Main Board-listed Amway (Malaysia) Holdings Berhad (Amway) has posted an unaudited pre-tax profit of RM25 million on the back of a sales revenue of RM144.6 million for the first quarter of its 2005 financial year ending August 31st. This is a 22% and 26% increase respectively compared to the corresponding quarter of the previous year, making it the best-performing quarter in terms of sales revenue in the 29-year history of the direct selling company. "Continued increase in distributor productivity and pre-price increase buying by distributors helped give a good start to the financial year for Amway," said Low Han Kee, Managing Director of Amway. "The pre-tax profit increase was also due to strong sales growth and better absorption of operating expenses," continued Low. However, he added that the Board has cautioned that the strong pre-price increase buying experienced in the first quarter may see a softening in the next quarter as distributors clear their on-hand inventories. "In light of this, the Group has embarked on aggressive sales and marketing initiatives to boost distributors' productivity. However, the increase in operating expenses to fund these initiatives will continue to exert pressure on the operating margin. "Nonetheless, the Board still expects to achieve a single digit growth in sales revenue for the fiscal year," added Low. Earlier in the day, the company held its 10th Annual General Meeting. Tan Sri Datuk Ahmad Farouk bin Haji SM Isahak was re-elected as a Director and Chairman of Amway while James Bradley Payne, Scott Russell Balfour, Abdul Wahab bin Nasir and Yee Kee Bing were re-elected as Directors. The shareholders also passed resolutions pertaining to the renewal of shareholders' mandate for recurrent related party transactions and the renewal of authority for the purchase of the company's own shares.
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