KUALA LUMPUR: Shares in Berjaya Food Bhd
climbed over 9% in early trading Wednesday after it reported earnings that beat analysts’ estimates.
The group added 9.27%, or 14 sen to RM1.65. It has gained over 3.6% so far this year.
Berjaya Food’s net profit for the second quarter ended Dec 31, 2020 jumped 38.8% to RM11.12mil from RM8.01mil a year ago mainly due to the implementation of effective cost management.
However, revenue fell 5.4% year-on-year to RM174.1mil from RM184.12mil.
For the first half, Berjaya Food’s net profit climbed 70% to RM21.49mil, from RM12.62mil while revenue dipped 2.7% to RM354.82mil from RM364.56mil.
Berjaya Food announced a second interim dividend of 0.5 sen per share, to be paid on March 26.
Maybank Investment Bank Research said Berjaya Food’s 2QFY21 results beat expectations due to lower-than-expected tax expense.
“Berjaya Food’s 2QFY21 core net profit of RM13mil (+39% YoY, +9% QoQ) brought 1H21 core net profit to RM25mil (+84% YoY). The latter was above expectations at 68%/90% of our/consensus earnings estimates,” it said.
Maybank IB expects Berjaya Food’s earnings recovery to continue into sequential quarters despite MCO 2.0as movement control measures are not as strict as MCO 1.0.
The research house has raised its FY20-FY22 earnings estimates by 23%-27% with a higher target price of RM2.
