KUALA LUMPUR: Integrated poultry farmer Lay Hong Bhd
announced a higher net profit of RM54.90mil for its third quarter ended Dec 31, 2023, for the financial year ending March 31, 2024 (3Q24), versus RM6.96mil in the same quarter a year ago, inclusive of subsidies received from the government.
In a filing with Bursa Malaysia, Lay Hong said revenue fell slightly to RM266.69mil from RM267.16mil.
“Revenue for the integrated livestock farming (ILF) segment decreased by 24.38% or RM70.67mil to RM219.25mil from RM289.92mil due to lower egg sales quantity due to lower production of eggs,” it said.
Lay Hong said that for the cumulative nine-month period ended Dec 31, 2023, net profit jumped to RM62.94mil from RM14.94mil.
Revenue, however, eased to RM768.73mil from RM800.47mil in the previous corresponding period.
“Revenue for the ILF segment decreased by 13.06%, or RM98.21mil, to RM594.15mil from RM683.43mil due to lower egg sales quantity from lower production of eggs,” it said.
Moving forward, Lay Hong said the industry remained challenging due to the continuous importation of frozen chicken into the domestic market.
It said that despite the fall in the cost of feed, the ringgit exchange rate against the US dollar continued to rise.
“However, the directors remain positive that the group will remain profitable due to our diversification into further processing and liquid eggs production,” it said.
Lay Hong said that given the present status, the downstream activities currently contribute 34%, compared with 25% in the previous year, to the group’s revenue.
“Going forward, with the recent acquisition of the remaining 51% of the shares in Nutriplus Food Manufacturing Sdn Bhd (formerly known as NHF Manufacturing (M) Sdn Bhd), the group is expected to achieve greater efficiency in food manufacturing through production integration,” it added. — Bernama
