PETALING JAYA: Kuala Lumpur Kepong (KLK) Bhd saw a 36.7% increase in net profit for its fourth quarter ended Sept 30, to RM175.02 million from RM127.99 million in the previous corresponding quarter, thanks to higher contribution from the manufacturing segment.
In a Bursa Malaysia filing, the group noted that its plantation and property development segments had recorded a drop in profit.
“Plantation profit declined 25.7% year-on-year (yoy) to RM126.4 million from RM170.1 million which was attributed to weaker CPO and PK selling prices and a higher production cost of CPO.”
Crude palm oil (CPO) and palm kernel (PK) selling prices were down 6.8% and 32.9% to RM1,920 and RM1,070, respectively.
Property profit dipped 14.8% to RM18.1 million, from RM21.2 million.
Meanwhile, its manufacturing segment’s profit more than doubled to RM95.3 million yoy from RM43.7 million, mainly attributed to the strong performance from operations in Malaysia which achieved better profit margins as a result of lower raw material prices.
KLK’s quarterly revenue however, declined 9.3% to RM3.8 billion from RM4.19 billion.
For the full year, its net profit increased marginally by 1.3% to RM617.51 million from RM609.37 million while revenue dropped 15.5% to RM15.53 billion from RM18.38 billion.
Looking ahead, KLK said it expects higher profit from operations for FY2020 ending Sept 30.
“Prevailing CPO and PK prices have improved. In view of this, the performance of plantation segment for FY2020 is expected to be better.
“Oleochemical division expects to maintain its performance for FY2020 with some additional capacities coming onstream,” it said.
For KLK’s parent company Batu Kawan Bhd, fourth-quarter net profit for the period ended Sept 30 rose 25.2% to RM96.7 million from RM77.25 million at the same time last year.
Revenue dipped to RM3.92 billion from RM4.32 billion.
For the full year, its net profit was 0.6% lower at RM363.5 million from RM365.68 million while revenue fell 15.3% to RM16.05 billion from RM18.95 billion.
