TDM receives Terengganu land for expansion plan

During the quarter in review, the car distributor registered a net profit of RM32.82mil compared with RM19.43mil in the corresponding period last year. Consequently, its earnings per share jumped to 8.4 sen from 4.97 previously

KUALA LUMPUR: TDM Bhd has accepted a total of 4,515ha of land offered by the Terengganu state government for its domestic plantation expansion plan.

TDM is an oil palm plantations cultivator wholly owned by state investment arm Terengganu Inc Sdn Bhd.

"The Lands are alienated to TDM by way of Grant from the State to support its operations and expenditures for the financial year 2017," said TDM in an announcement to Bursa Malaysia.

"The State had agreed to convert the Lands from Forest Reserve to Government Land and that the State will replace the affected areas with other Lands as Forest Reserve."

Among the terms and conditions, TDM will make a payment of RM250 per hectare per annum to a trust fund for wildlife conservation and conflict management.

The company said its existing land bank in Terengganu stands at 31,848ha.  Following the acceptance of the lands from the state government and the proposed acquisition of a controlling stake in Ladang Rakyat Terengganu Sdn Bhd, TDM's total land bank in the state will rise to 47,830ha.

"The effects of the said Grant is still at premature stage as of todate and TDM is currently in the process of examining and assessing the impact of the said Grant to its net assets, earnings and gearing of TDM for the financial year ending 31 December 2018.

"However, barring any unforeseen circumstances, the said Grant is expected to contribute positively to the future earnings of TDM," it said.