KUALA LUMPUR: Batu Kawan Bhd
expects its financial performance to be better in the financial year 2022.
The plantation group said its plantation segment profit for the financial year ending Sept 30, 2022 (FY22) is expected to be higher than the previous year's, driven by higher average crue plam oil (CPO) and palm kernel (PK) prices.
In general, Batu Kawan said there is still supply tightness in the vegetable oils markets globally.
“For the group’s manufacturing segment, the oleochemical division expects to operate satisfactorily for the FY22, despite challenges from raw material price volatility, high energy costs and ongoing logistic issues.
“Despite some softening in caustic soda prices recently, the group industrial chemical division’s performance is expected to be better for financial year 2022 due to higher average chlor-alkali products prices,” it said in the notes accompanying its financial results.
Batu Kawan’s net profit tumbled 21% to RM304.3mil in the third quarter ended June 30, from RM386.46mil a year ago mainly due to the following non-operational gains which were accounted in previous year.
Its revenue for the quarter jumped 34.3% to RM7.25bil against RM5.4bil last year while earnings per share stood at 77.22 sen from 97.51 sen last year.
For the first nine months to June 30, Batu Kawan posted a net profit of RM951.56mil, up 13.4% from RM838.9mil last year while revenue surged to RM21bil from RM14.56bil previously.
